Ash's Journey Through Hoenn
by Knight of Kanto
Summary: When he parts ways with Brock and Misty after his defeat in the Johto League, Ash has an epiphany that makes him realise what he has to do if he really wants to achieve his dream. Three months later he travels to Hoenn and starts taking his first steps on the path to be the Pokémon Master he has always dreamt of being.
1. The Epiphany

Hey guys this is the start of the rewrite of this story. To start with this won't be massively different to the original but in time it will be, this chapter is about 1500 words longer thought.

A new poll is up on my profile so please check it out and vote on it.

Here's the first chapter I hope you enjoy.

In conversations:

'- Translation of Poké Speech – No human unless otherwise stated can understand it.

"- Human speech

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon.

* * *

As Ash walked back to Pallet Town after his tearful parting with Brock and Misty, he wasn't really focused on where he was going his focus was entirely on the gifts Misty and Brock had given him a few hours ago. As he walked along holding the items Ash was remembering all the memories he had shared with Misty and Brock, both the good and bad ones. A smile formed on his face as he remembered fighting alongside his friends, training against them and all the advice they gave him during some of his toughest battles. Ash suddenly came to a stop as a thought came to mind and it made him realise something that would change him as a trainer.

Pikachu looked at his friend wondering why they had stopped all of a sudden. The look on Ash's face had him worried, he knew that parting from Misty and Brock would affect Ash but he didn't think he would take it this hard. He rubbed his cheek against Ash's which shifted the young trainers attention from the items he'd been given to Pikachu.

"Hey buddy what's up?"

'Ash you're worrying me.'

Ash looked to the concerned mouse on his shoulder and smiled knowing that the mouse was just worried about him. He rubbed Pikachus head earning a content sigh from the mouse.

"Don't worry about me Pikachu I'm fine. I've just been doing some thinking and when we get back to Pallet I need to talk to you and the other's about something very important, okay?"

Pikachu reluctantly nodded in response, Ash's response had done nothing to lessen his worry for his trainer but he let him be for now as it seemed he was going to find out what was on his best friend's mind when they got home. Ash started to walk along the path again and started looking in all directions trying to spot an old friend he hadn't seen for over a year.

"Right now where is the flock." Ash mumbled.

'Flock, what flock?' Pikachu asked feeling completely confused.

"Oh sorry buddy, I'm looking for the flock we left Pidgeot with. I made a promise to her to come get her after the Orange Archipelago and I didn't. Well now I'm gonna fix that."

Pikachu couldn't believe he had so easily forgotten about the incredibly loyal Pidgeot who had been such a valued member of their family. Pikachu had to admit that he was excited to see her again after all this time. As they walked to the area Ash was sure that he had left Pidgeot both he and Pikachu were on guard with the latter having a Thunderbolt prepared in case the Fearow that hates Ash was in the area and decided to attack them.

Suddenly Pikachu caught sight of something out the corner of his eye, he leapt off of Ash's shoulder and fired the bolt of electricity he had charged but was stunned to see it had been easily batted away. As Pikachu prepared another attack the figure came out with its wing still metallic and stood in front of Ash and Pikachu prompting the mouse to stop preparing the attack as they now knew who it was. With a smile on his dace Ash walked forward and threw his arms around his loyal Pidgeot who wrapped her wings around Ash in return overjoyed to see that her old friend had finally returned.

"Pidgeot it's great to see you."

'You too Ash.'

Pikachu jumped back on to Ash's shoulder and gave Pidgeot a thumbs up.

'Hey Pidgeot, long time no see.'

'Hello Pikachu, I have to say that that was the best Thunderbolt I've seen for a long time.'

'I doubt that I mean you batted it aside like it was nothing.'

'That's more down to me learning a technique to defend myself from electric types.'

Ash watched the interaction between them and smiled as it was like they had never been apart, as he watched the pair he then remembered why he was here.

"Hey Pidgeot I came to see if you wanted to come and travel with me again."

The flying type turned her gaze to Ash happily nodded, she then looked over to where the flock was nesting knowing that she had to return and tell them of her decision to leave. Ash turned to look in the same direction Pidgeot was looking and saw some Pidgey, Pidgeotto and even a few Pidgeot. Upon seeing the flying types gathered there Ash was sure he understood what Pidgeot was implying.

"You need to tell the other's before you leave right?"

Pidgeot nodded and flew off leaving Ash and Pikachu to watch as she went back to tell the flock that she intended to leave.

"It's great that Pidgeot wants to travel with us again isn't it Pikachu."

'Yep, I hadn't realised how much we'd missed her.'

A few minutes later Pidgeot returned and landed in front of the pair. Ash could see by the look in her eyes that it had been an emotional parting much like his with Brock and Misty which wasn't surprising considering how long she had lived with the flock. Ash took a spare poke ball he had in his pocket and captured Pidgeot once more, once the catch was confirmed he quickly sent her back out.

"Hey Pidgeot do you think you could give us a ride to Pallet Town?"

'Sure Ash.'

She lowered her body so Ash could get on but as he was about to get on Pidgeot they heard some far too familiar voices for their liking.

"Prepare for trouble."

"And make it double."

"Oh for the love of Arceus." Ash groaned

The motto that had driven Ash crazy for the last four years of his life stopped and Jesse, James and Meowth appeared before them. What surprised Ash was that they had lost the Team Rocket garb and were just wearing normal everyday clothes. Despite this he, Pikachu and Pidgeot were all ready to battle the trio as Pikachu's cheeks started to crackle showing that he was ready to Thunderbolt them.

"I'm really not in the mood to deal with you guys right now I have far more important things to do, Pikachu Thunderbolt."

The trio had a look of fear on their face as they saw Pikachu start to generate a little more power.

"Wait we're not here to steal your Pokémon, please just give us a chance to explain." James nigh on begged.

Ash was dubious as he had been fooled by the trio in the past on many occasions but after taking a quick look around it was obvious that they had no contraption to try to capture his Pokémon with and they hadn't sent out any of their Pokémon so as of right now they were no real threat.

"Okay, Pikachu let's give them a chance to explain themselves. Keep that Thunderbolt ready just in case though."

Pikachu nodded and stopped charging the attack but made sure it was ready to fire if needed. Ash was about to ask them what they want but then he spotted something on Jessie's hand and on closer inspection he saw it was a ring.

"So you two finally got together, took you long enough."

Jesse, James and Meowth were all wide eyedat Ash's statement. They were all wondering how someone who has been oblivious to anything not related to Pokémon over the past four years had grasped this so quickly. They looked at Ash who was smirking and Jesse realised something that everyone seemed to have missed before now.

"It appears you are more intelligent than you let on."

Ash kept on smirking and simply nodded in response.

"Yes well we quit Team Rocket so me and Jesse are going to settle down."

"Where are you going then?"

"Unova, my parents owned a villa out in Undella Town."

Ash remembered that he had gone on vacation to Undella Town when he was younger and from what he could remember it was a popular place by the ocean. He had to admit he was happy for them for a couple of reasons, the first being that they'd finally got together and the second being the fact that now they'd finally leave him alone to travel without worrying about someone trying to steal any of his Pokemon. Ash then thought about what James had said and noticed that he'd said me and Jessie but hadn't mentioned Meowth. He looked at Meowth wondering what his plan was and was surprised to see the usually composed cat looked nervous.

"So Meowth what are gonna do now?"

"Well I was kinda hoping dat you'd train me."

That was the last thing Ash had been expecting to hear and it left him momentarily stunned, it seemed almost implausible that Meowth wanted to train with him instead of taking an easy life with Jessie and James. Despite what had happened in the past Ash was more than happy to have Meowth come with him as he could see in his eyes that there was a desire to be strong. Also Meowth could easily translate anything a Pokemon says which would allow Ash to know what Pokémon were saying.

"Okay Meowth you can come with us, but you realise the training will be tough. I am planning on intensifying my training for the next region I travel to "

"I was expecting to hear that, I'm ready to train hard and get stronger."

"Well you that I have to capture you but don't worry I'll let you straight back out."

Meowth nodded and Ash presented a poke ball giving the cat one more chance to back out however Meowth wasted no time and touched poke ball allowing himself to be captured. Ash quickly let the cat out of the poke ball and Meowth climbed up Ash's arm and stood on his free shoulder once again surprising the young trainer. Ash stroked the cats head and then turned back to Jessie and James shaking his forces nemesis' hands.

"Goodbye you two, this may sound strange but I'm going to miss you. Despite everything we went through there were times that you were there for me when I needed help and I won't forget that."

"We'll miss you too kid and we're sorry for all thr trouble we caused you over the years." Jessie replied.

"If you ever find yourselves in Unova come to Undella Town, they'll always be room for you there with us." James added.

"Thanks."

Jessie and James then hugged Meowth knowing that it would probably be a long time until they see him again. The trio reluctantly broke the hug and after an emotional goodbye the couple started walking north leaving Ash, Meowth, Pikachu and Pidgeot on the path. Ash got on to Pidgeot and looked to the Pokémon on his shoulders making sure they had a tight grip. Seeing that both were ready to go Ash gave Pidgeot a nod and she shot off like a jet straight to Pallet Town.

* * *

Pidgeot landed on the outskirts of Pallet a few minutes later. Ash thanked Pidgeot for the ride and returned her promising to let her back out soon. He started walking down the path and after a little internal debate he headed straight towards Professor Oak's Lab. While Ash did miss his mother and wanted so see her again he wanted to talk to his Pokémon first about his plans for the future. When Ash got to the lab he knocked on the door which quickly opened revealing his travelling companion from the Orange Archipelago.

"Hey Tracey, how are you?"

"Fine thanks Ash. I'm guessing that you're here to see your Pokémon."

"Yeah I have something important to talk to them about."

Tracey then spotted Meowth on Ash's shoulder which he thought nothing of until he realised that he was standing up on two legs rather than on all four like a Meowth usually would.

"Wait is that Team Rocket's Meowth?"

"Don't worry I quit Team Rocket and now I'm on your side."

Tracey raised an eyebrow at Meowth not at all convinced by someone who had spent four harassing Ash and trying to steal his Pokemon. Ash saw the look and pulled Meowth's poke ball off his belt and returned him. Tracey eyes were now the size of dinner plates, he couldn't believe that Meowth had allowed himself to be captured. Ash let Meowth back out and the cat took his place on Ash's shoulder.

"I can't believe he let you capture him, so I guess he really is on our side now."

"Yep he's telling the truth, so can I see my Pokémon now?"

Tracey nodded still shocked at the situation and stepped aside letting Ash into the lab. Ash walked through the lab and went out the back door to the pasture, the minute he walked outside the ground shook as a group of Pokémon were now stampeding towards him. In mere seconds he was surrounded by all the Pokémon he'd captured and to his surprise Charizard was here and not at Charific Valley. After the excitement of seeing Ash again died down the Pokémon realised that the Meowth that had been trying to steal them for years was stood on Ash's shoulder. Almost on instinct several of them started to charge an attack to be rid of the cat however a quick explanation from Pikachu calmed them down.

"Guys I've got an old friend to introduce to you and there is something important I need to tell you."

Ash threw the poke ball containing Pidgeot who was revealed to the group, the ones who recognised her quickly stepped forward and they began talking and introducing her to the others. Once everyone was acquainted the Pokémon quickly turned their attention back to Ash curious what was so important.

"Okay everyone as you all know I've been a trainer for a little over four years now and after some thinking on my journey so far I have realised that I haven't been a particularly good trainer."

Ash was cut off before he could continue by the protests of his Pokémon all denying his claim. He raised a hand and they gradually quietened down.

"Wait let me finish, I know I have treated you well since we met but as a trainer I have failed you. During our travels I have very rarely given you any proper training unless it's been absolutely vital, sure I had the odd mock battle with Brock and Misty from time to time but that's just not good enough. Also most of the moves you have all learned were in battle, there are not many of your moves that I can take credit for even helping you with. On the way home I realised that I relied too much on Brock and Misty and many times I let you all down."

His Pokémon looked away in silence, they wouldn't admit it but they knew that what he said was true to some degree.

"But I promise you all that that changes now. I am going to have a word with my mother to see if she can teach me things like cooking and other travelling essentials and I'll ask Professor Oak if he can help me improve my knowledge of Pokémon so I can be a better trainer. I intend to travel to our next region without any companions, it'll just be us and I want yo win the next League. To do that we will have to train and what I will say is that our training regime will be incredibly tough so prepare yourselves"

The Pokémon all cried out enthusiastically and Ash smiled at their response, he had wondered whether they would be okay with his declaration so was relieved to see that they were. He turned around and went back inside to find Professor Oak and quickly found him talking with Tracey about something on the monitor they were looking at, it appeared to be a fossil but it looked nothing like the Helix or Dome fossils he knew.

"Hey Professor."

"Ah hello Ash, Tracey told me you'd arrived. You just missed Gary I'm afraid."

"Where's he gone?"

"He's gone to the Hoenn region and only taken his Blastoise with him, he intends to go around the region and catch a new team."

Ash couldn't see the logic in his rival's decision there, surely taking his older Pokémon to help train his newer ones would have made more sense. After a moments thought Ash shrugged it off since he had more important things to do than question his rivals motives.

"Are you intending to do the same Ash?"

"No, although I would like to travel to Hoenn in the future right now I have something important to ask you?"

"Sure Ash go ahead."

"I was wondering if you would teach me more about Pokémon, like their habitats, diets, moves and abilities."

"Sure Ash, but you do realise it won't be easy. There is a lot to learn and you will have to learn it quickly"

"Yes Professor I know and I'm ready to learn everything you can teach me. I do have one request thought, can you teach in the mornings so I can train with my Pokemon in the afternoon?"

"Okay Ash that sounds fine to me, just get here for 7am tomorrow and we'll begin."

Both Tracey and Professor Oak were expecting to get quite a reaction from Ash at the thought of getting up that early. But they were stunned when he happily replied with a simple ok. Both of their jaws dropped at Ash agreeing to such an early start and happily at that. Ash looked at them and was bemused at what had caused their strange behaviour, he shrugged and then walked to the door.

"Okay I'll see you both tomorrow."

They nodded in response and watched him leave, both still in shock that Ash was happy to get up that early. Ash exited the lab with Pikachu and Meowth chuckling at the look on their faces which made Ash do the same, he walked toward his home happy that he would get to see his mother again after so long. He stared to run as he was too excited to get home. A few minutes later he was stood outside his house and he knocked on the door. A few seconds later it flew open and before Ash had time to even say hello he was pulled into a bone crushing hug.

"Mum can't breathe." he croaked out.

Delia reluctantly released her hold on him and led him to the kitchen where she had prepared a massive meal for him. His mouth watered and he near enough pounced on the food and started demolishing it, at the same time Pikachu was guzzling a giant bottle of ketchup. Meowth on the other hand was actually taking time to enjoy the food as he had never had a meal as incredible as the one he was eating right now. Delia chuckled at her son's behaviour but vowed to teach him proper manners. Once the food had vanished and the table was cleared Ash began telling her about his travels in Johto, she listened intently and scolded him a couple of times for his more dangerous adventures. When he was finished talking Ash looked at his mother, she saw the look and knew he had something to ask.

"Ash what's wrong?" She asked in a concerned tone.

"Nothing mum there is just something I need to ask you though."

Delia sat and waited for Ash to continue, she wondered what could be so important to make Ash act so serious and yet nervous at the same time.

"Would you mind teaching me how to cook and do other skills I'll need when I go travelling again?"

Delia was stunned at Ash's request, she had always thought that she would have to force her son to learn these things but here he was asking her politely. Ash sighed and looked at Pikachu kind of annoyed that people kept giving him the same stunned look. Then again it made sense as he'd not been as mature as he could have been since the start of his journey.

"Not mum too."

Meowth and Pikachu started laughing however the latter quickly stopped and wrapped his around his stomach, he groaned and then bolted off towards the bathroom. Ash was now the one laughing along with Meowth as they could hear Pikachu in the bathroom vomiting, Ash just hoped he'd gotten to the toilet in time otherwise he'd be cleaning after Pikachu again.

"I told you that you shouldn't have so much ketchup."

'Shut up.' Pikachu groaned in response.

This snapped Delia out of her shocked state and she looked at Ash with pride, she didn't realise how much he had matured since he'd started his Pokemon journey.

"Okay Ash I'll teach you all the skills you'll need to travel alone."

"Thanks mum, do you think we can do this when I get home as in the morning Professor Oak is teaching me more about the finer details of Pokémon and I'm training in the afternoon."

"Okay Ash, that's no problem."

"Thanks mum."

Suddenly both mother and son, they looked at the clock and were shocked at the time as neither of them had realised just how late it had gotten. Ash yawned again and then left the room making sure to pick up bucket to take up with him, he remembered the last time Pikachu had overdone it on the ketchup and had no desire to wake up in a vomit filled bed again.

Ash walked into the bathroom and picked up Pikachu who had unsurprisingly passed out and went to his room to get some sleep for tomorrow when he would truly start on his path to become a Pokémon Master. Meowth followed him but stood in the middle of the room unsure where he would sleep. Ash saw the look on Meowth's face and pulled the cat into the bed with him and Pikachu, the action surprised the cat but he quickly relaxed and fell asleep. Ash smiled at the two Pokémon and then joined them in slumber.

* * *

Ash woke up early the next morning, he looked at the time and was relieved to see that his alarm clock had worked for once. He stretched his limbs out and got out of bed to get ready for the day. He raced downstairs and quickly ate his breakfast. He thanked his mum and walked to Professor Oak's Lab finding that he had arrived fifteen minutes early, he knocked on the door and saw Tracey who was again stunned.

"Morning Tracey."

"Hey Ash, you're eager aren't you."

"I am taking this seriously Tracey, I want to learn so I can be a better trainer."

Tracey let Ash in and closed the door, he was amazed at the determination in Ash's voice and the mature look in his eyes. Tracey knew that Ash was going to work as hard as possible and Tracey like the Professor had a lot of faith in Ash. Professor Oak heard the door to his office open and turned around to see Ash and Tracey.

"Hello Ash. You arrived early."

"Yeah well if you don't mind Professor I'd like to get started."

"Okay then Ash I'm more than happy to get started, come with me and we can start your first lesson."

Ash followed the Professor to a room that had a couple of desks in front of a blackboard on the wall. Ash took a seat and noticed that there were a stack of books there all based on Pokemon. He looked up as he saw Professor Oak walk to the blackboard and the lesson began with Ash listening intently. The morning was spent teaching Ash the basics of every known Pokémon, Ash was amazed at how little he had actually known about Pokémon. He had thought himself to be reasonably knowledgeable but was quickly proved wrong and it only made him more determined to learn. They finished the first lesson at lunch, as Ash went to leave he remembered he had a couple of questions for the Professor.

"Thanks again for agreeing to teach me Professor, it's only been one lesson and i already know so much more about Pokemon."

"It's my pleasure Ash, I've been waiting to do this for a while now."

"Really?"

"Of course, Ash I've always known that you had the potential to be a world class pokemon trainer. Everyone in Pallet believes that you have this potential, why else do you think the people of Pallet cheered for you and not Gary?"

"I-I always thought it was because I was the underdog and you always support them."

"No Ash, you were never the underdog in that battle, even when your back was against the wall we knew you would win. You have a talent that I have seen in very few people and if you work hard you can achieve great things alongside your pokemon. The bond you share with your pokemon proves that, you just needed someone to teach you the more indepth parts of pokemon training."

"Wow, th-thank you Professor, I just hope I can do you all proud."

"You will do Ash, now is there anything else you need?"

"Actually there is. I was wondering if youu have any training weights for Pokémon and any I can use to train, I want to grow stronger alongside them."

"Yes I do, I have all you could want prepared. I knew a day would come where you would need this equipment to train your pokemon. If you go down the hall you'll see a door at the end on the left full of training equipment. I recommend you all start on the lightest weights and work your way up."

"Okay thank you again Professor. Could you also do me a favour and see if anyone wants to trade for some of my Tauros? I have far too many and I think that trading them to someone will benefit everyone."

"I'll look into it Ash."

Ash nodded at the Professor and then followed his instructions, he quickly found the room and went inside. Ash looked around the room in awe at the sheer amount of equipment on disply, the Professor wasn't lying when he said the room was filled with training gear. He looked through all of the equipment until he finally came to the basic weights the Professor had told him to use. He selected some for all of his Pokémon and gradually took the gear outside.

After several trips he called over all of his Pokemon and upon seeing the weights his Pokémon were excited to start training although some seemed a little disappointed that they didn't appear to be that heavy. However as he attached the weights one by one to his Pokémon they realised that looks can be deceiving and they were surprised at how heavy they actually were. Ash told them that when they were stronger they would go up to the next weight level making them wonder how heavy the next set would be.

They all had some weights placed on their arms and legs, the flying types had them placed on their wings to improve speed and dodging and the ones with tails had some placed there to strengthen them for future moves like Iron Tail. After Ash put his own weights on they began running/flying laps for as long as possible which was difficult for all of them and they realised that this training would be even tougher than they expected. All of them had to admit though that they were looking forward to seeing the benefits of this training.

They worked harder than they ever had done before, Ash had pushed them as hard as he dared but he also made sure to push himself just as hard. By the end of their training session his Pokémon had sweat pouring off them and many of them were laid down and breathing heavily from exhaustion. Ash had felt guilty when he saw them that tired however a look in their eyes told him that they had actually enjoyed the tough training. Satisfied with the days' work he left the coral and went to talk to Professor Oak.

"Hey Professor how long do you think it will take to teach me all that you can? The thing is I want to compete in the Hoenn League this year and I don't want to have to rush through the regio."

The Professor rubbed his chin as he considered his answer to Ash's question, usually his training would take at least six months however he could already tell that that wouldn't be the case for Ash.

"Well Ash we both know that you are a lot more intelligent than you let on."

Ash nodded a little bashfully because it was true. Ash had since the start of his journey played dumb, it was a lot easier for him to be dumb and oblivious than intelligent and have to explain to every girl he'd met why he didn't reciprocate their feelings. He was sure one day it would come back to bite him but that wouldn't be for a long time... hopefully. He was drawn out of his thoughts by Professor Oak.

"So I'd say if you work hard it will take three months at the most."

Ash was happy with that, it left him plenty of time to compete in the Hoenn League when the training was done and meant he wouldn't have to rush around trying to get the badges.

"Okay that's great thanks again Professor."

"Don't worry about it Ash."

Ash left the lab and went home feeling completely exhausted after the day of training but he still had more than enough energy to learn the skills his mother was going to teach him. He knew that over time the days would get easier and gradually they did, after just a weeks' training he was more alert and got a lot more accomplished in a day. His mother, Tracey and Professor Oak were impressed with how well he had handled everything. He was a quick learner which made their jobs a heck of a lot easier and all of them were immensely proud of Ash.

* * *

After the second week of the training program he'd made for his Pokémon he decided they were ready to start learning the moves he had planned. So they spent a couple of hours warming up and using the weights to train as them had been doing and then the rest of the afternoon was spent learning the new moves. After seeing what Pidgeot had done against Pikachu's Thunderbolt Ash decided that the first thing they should do is learn a steel move like Iron Tail or Steel Wing for anyone who could learn them.

He asked his Pokémon what they thought and after Pikachu and Pidgeot demonstrated what had happened in the forest they all agreed that it was an excellent idea. As they started using the Steel moves he then thought of a variant as there may be times where they wouldn't have time to deflect the attack so he came up with a way to transfer the electricity into the ground. He asked Pidgeot to use Steel Wing but ram the metallic wing into the ground, she did so and when Pikachu hit her with a Thunderbolt the electricity transferred into the ground leaving her unscathed. Ash couldn't stop himself from cheering at seeing his idea work making all of his pokemon laugh.

Once the Steel moves had been mastered the next move they worked on was an evasion move either Double Team or Dig depending on their size. Ash had looked back on previous battles and realised how important dodging was and that his Pokémon would have been much better off dodging instead of taking attacks head on as he had let them do so many times in the past.

After they had perfected the evasion moves the training time was mainly just using heavier weights to increase their strength, speed and stamina or mock battles to test out new moves that he had helped them learn. On thing Ash hadn't expected from the training was for Wartortle to actually create a new technique even if it was by mistake. It had been when the water type had been battling Bayleef to improve his abilities against foes who had the advantage over him. She had used Bullet Seed and he managed to leap over the horde of seeds but had misjudged his jump and he landed on his back.

Suddenly another wave was headed his way so he began shooting several Water Gun's to block the seeds which he did but not in the way he imagined. Due to him being on his back firing the Water Gun's had made him start spinning so the Water Gun's ended up creating a vortex which blocked Bayleef's attack. All of his comrades were amazed at what they saw and began trying to do a similar thing which several of them managed to do. Ash after some thoughts decided to call it the Counter Shield technique and knew that it would save his skin someday.

* * *

Time seemed to pass by quickly after the first couple of weeks and before he knew it Ash had been home for three months bringing his lessons to an end as he made his final preparations for Hoenn. Ash now knew how to survive on his own thanks to his mother's teachings, she'd taught him everything from cooking to sewing. Also his knowledge of Pokémon had grown considerably thanks to Professor Oak and Tracey and because he had learnt much quicker than they had anticipated they started to go into more detailed studies regarding new discoveries such as Mega Evolution and Pokemon of the Fairy type.

Ash had also become a lot stronger physically thanks to training alongside his Pokémon and like their trainier the Pokémon had grown a lot stronger too thanks to the weight training. Ash had been surprised when Bulbasaur and Squirtle chose to evolve as neither had shown any desire to evolve in the past. This was especially true for Bulbasaur as he had shown such a disdain for evolution, but both Pokémon realised they had reached a wall that they could not break through unless they evolved.

Today was the last day Ash was spending in Pallet before starting his journey in Hoenn and he was fully intent on actually conquering the region. He sat on the field and watched as his Pokémon were now having mock battles for a bit of last minute practice before they left. He saw Pikachu battling Wartortle, the latter had used Ash's idea of using Iron Tail on the ground to negate electric attacks during the entire battle meaning Pikachu's biggest strength had been completely neutralised.

Ash was impressed at how well Pikachu had done against Wartortle without his electric attacks. He had used his superior speed to his advantage but as Pikachu began to tire Wartortle had an easy shot at Pikachu and seeing his opportunity he hit the mouse with a Skull Bash which ended the battle. Pikachu got back to his feet slightly dazed but no worse for ware and both Pokémon shook hands, Wartortle then went over to Ivysaur and started chatting while Pikachu walked to Ash looking depressed.

"Cheer up buddy, I'm proud of you. You were at a serious disadvantage due to you being unable to use electric attacks."

Pikachu looked down still feeling miserable at losing to Wartortle as he knew that a couple of months ago he could have won that battle. Ash looked at his best friend sadly, he really hated seeing Pikachu like this especially since in the last couple of weeks it had been occuring more frequently. His stomach then rumbled and that made him think of a way to cheer his buddy up.

"Hey I'm gonna go get everyone's food. Wait here okay. I'll make sure to put extra ketchup on."

Pikachu still kept his gaze down and nodded in response. Ash sighed at the sight of his dejected best friend and stood up, he walked into the lab and began making lunch completely oblivious to the fact that when he got up something important had fallen out of his pocket. Pikachu had noticed though and had been about to get Ash's attention until he saw that it was the Thunderstone which was now lying there. As he stared at the Thunderstone laid out before him, thoughts were racing through Pikachu's head. Would Ash leave him here now that he wasn't one of the strongest? Would Ash ever battle with him again?

Even though Pikachu knew that these thoughts were irrational and that Ash would never leave him behind he couldn't get the thoughts out of his head. He knew that there was a way he would become stronger and it was sat in front of him. At that moment Pikachu made a decision that he knew could not be undone, he gulped and he reached out to the stone. As he felt the smooth surface against his paw his he glowed white causing everyone to turn and see what was causing the blinding light and they were all shocked to see that the light was coming from Pikachu.

* * *

Notes

Yes I know I put Counter Shield in, but it is just too good a technique to not use.

In general it will not follow the anime however some parts will be used.

For those of you who read the original I hope you enjoyed this new version.

I really would appreciate some reviews saying what you liked/didn't like even if you only do it for this chapter.

Ash:

Kanto – Pikachu (Well technically Raichu), Ivysaur, Wartortle, Charizard, Pidgeot, Kingler, Muk, Tauros(x30) & Snorlax

Johto – Totodile, Bayleaf, Cyndaquil, Heracross, Noctowl (Shiny) & Phanpy


	2. The Journey Begins

Thanks for the reviews guys I really appreciate you taking the time to write one, I'm glad that you all seem to enjoy the re-write.

I have to say I am pleasantly surprised by the voting on the poll, I honestly was expecting normal Raichu to have a landslide win but you've chosen the Alolan verion. This is personally the one I wanted to do to I'm glad you picked that one. The next poll has gone up, I'm doing these frequently since the results have been extremely one sided thus far. With this one remember that Salem will NOT be in a relationship with Ash and also that Team Firestorm isn't going to be the evil team for the rewrite.

Here's chapter 2 I hope you enjoy.

In conversations:

'- Translation of Poké Speech – No human unless otherwise stated can understand it.

"- Human speech

 **" - Telepathy**

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon.

* * *

Oblivious to what was happening outside the lab Ash was putting the finishing touches on the food for his Pokémon and had put most of it on the trolleys. He was just adding some ketchup to Pikachu's meal when he saw a bright light coming from outside. Ash had been a trainer long enough to know that the light was coming from a Pokémon evolving, he grinned at the prospect of it but was curious about who it was. He was expecting it to be Totodile or Cyndaquil as they had both been showing signs of being on the verge of evolving recently.

Ash walked outside completely forgetting the food trolley to watch whichever one of his Pokémon was evolving and what he saw shocked him immensely. Of all the Pokemon he was expecting to see evolving, Pikachu was without a doubt the last. Ash quickly stuck his hand in his pocket hoping to feel the jagged edges of the Thunderstone but found that the Thunderstone was no longer there. He stared at Pikachu and couldn't believe that this was happening, he looked at the rest of his Pokémon and they had similar looks on their faces as no one had expected this to happen ever.

The light eventually died down revealing a Raichu but not the kind any of them expected to see. He had far lighter colouring and more rounded features than the Raichu's they had seen in the past. His eyes were blue with yellow half-circles along the bottom. He had large yellow ears with an inner spiral toward the base and brown on the inside. His ear were thick, far thicker and less pointed than a standard Raichu's ear. In addition to his white belly, Raichu had white markings on its paws with bright yellow lines between his digits. The stripes on his back also turned white, and there's a small, white circular marking on each heel and the lightning bolt-shaped tip of his tail now has rounded edges.

Raichu looked down at his new body and was just as surprised as everyone else since he looked nothing like he had expected. Despite this he was pleased with the new body he had, he was far slimmer than the bulky Raichu's he had seen in the past and he could feel the power surging through him. He suddenly felt an odd sensation, one he'd only felt before when he'd been on the recieving end of.

'A-am I psychic now?'

He looked as a pebble next to him and decided to see if he had gained access to this new power. He focussed on the stone and watched in shock as it levitated off the ground, he immediately lost his concentration and the pebble fell to the ground. With his question answered Raichu looked around and saw the still shocked looks on everyone's faces. He wasn't that surprised at their expressions as he knew that his decision is rather unexpected.

His eyes eventually fell on his best friend who was rooted to the spot, looking absolutely stunned. Raichu quickly sprinted over to his best friend and tried to jump on to his shoulder however he had forgotten that he was now much heavier than before. The extra weight he had gained from evolving caused Ash to fall to the ground with Raichu laying on his chest. Ash groaned but quickly pulled Raichu into a hug, the mouse rubbed his cheek against Ash's affectionately in return. After a few moments Ash finally found his voice and had to ask Raichu the one question he had about this.

"Pika... I mean Raichu why did you choose to evolve?"

'I wanted to be stronger and knew that I couldn't reach my full potential as a Pikachu. I had hit my wall so I knew I had to evolve to break my limits.'

Ash had gotten the gist of Raichu was saying due to his close bond with his best friend. While Ash could see the logic behind Raichu's decision he just hoped he hadn't done this just because Wartortle beat him.

"I understand Raichu I just hope you didn't do this just because Wartortle beat you in one battle"

Raichu shook his head to reassure Ash that it hadn't been the only reason, the truth was that he'd been thinking about this for a while and that match with Wartortle was the last straw that broke the Camerupt's back. Over the last few weeks he'd seen the improvements Ivysaur and Wartortle had made and finally knew that this was something he had to do.

"Well if you are happy with this then I am too, I always said it was your choice but I have to admit though I'm slightly surprised at the results of your evolution. You've somehow evolved into an Alolan Raichu, since we're not in that region it means you must have been born there but that doesn't make sense since you lived around here before Professor Oak caught you. Well none of that really matters, you'll always be my buddy no matter what you look like."

Raichu sighed in relief as he thought over what Ash had said, he was glad that Ash approved of his choice especially since he had done so without consulting Ash first. As he thought about it he wasn't really hating his evolved form like he thought he would do. He could feel the massive increase in both his electrical and newly found psychic power and he was liking it.

* * *

Eventually Raichu got off of Ash allowing him to get back to finishing everyone's lunch, Raichu looked back at his family waving to them and smiling. Hi family returned the gesture as best they could and started to chat amongst themselves as they watched Raichu follow Ash inside to the lab. When Raichu saw his meal sat on the counter he jumped on to the counter and after Ash put on a layer of ketchup on it completely killing most of the other flavours Raichu began practically inhaling the food. Ash chuckled at Raichu's antics not at all surprised at his best friend, he was glad that he hadn't changed in that department. Ash left Raichu to eat while he put the last bowl of food on the trolleys to take outside.

"Raichu come outside when you're done with your meal, I wanna see how your evolution has affected your power."

Raichu stopped eating long enough to nod at Ash and then he quickly began scoffing his food again. Ash smiled and then pushed the trolleys outside leaving Raichu to keep stuffing his face. When he got outside he placed the bowls of food on the floor, his Pokémon had watched him all the way and as soon as the bowls were on the ground they charged over and began eating their food.

To no one's surprise Snorlax finished first and after letting out a huge belch he almost immediately fell to sleep. Ash chuckled and shook his head at the sleeping Snorlax, he would never be able to thank his mother and Professor Oak enough for finding a recipe that would fill Snorlax's stomach with just a small amount of food. His bills would be horrendous without it which meant that he could save his money for more crucial things. Raichu walked outside into the corral not long Snorlax fell to sleep and went to Ash, almost on instinct he jumped on to best friends shoulder making Ash nearly fall again.

"Raichu you've gotta warn me before you do that, you're a bit bigger now and I don't know if I can carry you on one shoulder anymore."

Raichu looked down guiltily, it still hadn't really sunk in that he had evolved but he knew that he had to remember that he was a lot heavier than he used to be. He looked sadly at Ash knowing that he'd miss riding on Ash's shoulder.

'Okay I'm sorry Ash.'

"Don't worry about it buddy, we'll just have to come up with a new seating arrangement for you. It's just gonna take a while to get used to you being a bit heavier than you were before."

All Ash got was a quick nod before Raichu moved so he was sat across both of Ash's shoulders. The new position allowed Ash to stand up straight and while it felt a little odd he knew that he would get used to it. He turned his head so he could look into Raichu's bright blue eyes.

"That's a bit better, so Raichu are you ready to show off your power."

'I sure am Ash.' Raichu replied as a smirk was now plastered across his face.

Ash smiled at his best friend, he was glad he heard that determination in Raichu's voice it was something he had not had in weeks. This made Ash wonder how long this had been bothering the mouse and made him berate himself for not seeing it sooner. Ash looked around the coral trying to find something Raichu could test his new abilities on and then he spotted a boulder.

"Hey Raichu use Thunderbolt on that boulder."

All the Pokémon stopped what they were doing so they could see how powerful Raichu had become now that he'd evolved. Raichu knew that everyone was watching so charged up as much power a he could and fired a bolt of electricity at the boulder Ash had pointed to. The Thunderbolt struck the centre of the boulder which obliterated it, all that remained of it were a few tiny pebbles that rained from the sky.

Everyone watching was dumbstruck, they knew he was powerful for a Pikachu and that he'd be a powerful Raicu but all of them had to admit that that display was astonishing. Raichu looked at his comrades and saw that they were all amazed and even Charizard looked to be impressed with his display of power. Ash was the first to recover from the shock at what he had seen and grinned at Raichu.

"Holy crap! Raichu, That was amazing!"

'Thanks Ash.' Raichu replied while he rubbed the back of his head.

Upon seeing the vast power boost Raichu had gotten Ash then had Raichu run laps and compare the times with the ones he had set as a Pikachu and was once again amazed that his evolution had increased his speed and stamina so much. Ash had to admit he was very impressed by his friends new power and was glad to see that Raichu seemed mush happier than he had been for weeks.

After spending a little more time at the ranch Ash decided to leave his Pokémon to relax for the rest of the day so he could spend some time with his mother before he left for Hoenn tomorrow. He got home and they talked for a few hours, although it was mostly small talk about the most random of topics they just enjoyed spending time together knowing that they wouldn't have the chance to do this another year.

It was around 6 o'clock when Delia told Ash to get washed up as she prepared the last meal he'd have before leaving. Ash went upstairs and quickly washd up giving him enough time to go to his room to choose what outfit he'd wear to Hoenn. He rummaged through his closet but sadly the only things he had were similar to what he had worn in Kanto and Johto and to be honest that wasn't the kind of practical clothing he wanted. He closed the door and he sighed in disappointment. He shrugged and set the clothes out resigning himself to just getting something when he gets to Hoenn.

He suddenly heard his mother call up to him and he practically flew downstairs. He sat at the table and had the last home cooked meal he'd have for a long while. He didn't inhale food as he used to in the past, the first thing his mother had taught him were proper manners as she had refused to teach him anything else until he acted like a gentleman. Raichu on the other hand was the complete opposite and hadn't learned a thing, he had drenched his food in ketchup and obliterated it in seconds.

After spending a bit more time with his mother Ash started to feel tired so since he wanted to get a good nights' sleep so he was ready for tomorrow he said goodnight to his mother and went up to his room quickly falling into a deep sleep. Delia had stayed downstairs as she still had to finish the surprise for Ash she had been working on.

* * *

Next morning Ash woke up bright and early as had been doing for the past few months. He got himself ready, quickly putting on the clothes he'd picked out yesterday and shot downstairs having just enough time for him, Meowth and Raichu to get a slice of toast. He thanked his mother and then ran out of the house headed towards Professor Oak's lab to pick the Pokémon he was taking with him. He arrived there in a couple of minutes later and knocked on the door which opened and Ash was greeted by Tracey.

"Hey Ash, I'm guessing you're here to pick which Pokémon you're taking to Hoenn."

"Yep."

"Well Professor Oak wants a word with you first."

"Okay Tracey lead the way."

Tracey nodded and led Ash into the lab taking him through to Professor Oak's study. The Professor looked engrossed in a study that Professor Birch had sent him but when he heard Ash enter the room he stopped his reading immediately and turned to the young trainer.

"Ah Ash my boy I'm glad to see that you're here early as usual."

"Yeah well I want to get going early so I can get to Vermillion City in time to catch the boat that is leaving for Hoenn today. I may get there a bit early but I usually get delayed by something so I don't want to take any risks"

"Very well Ash I won't keep you long. There are just a couple of things I want to give you before you leave."

The Professor opened a draw on his desk and pulled a couple of things out, Ash tried to catch a glimpse of them but the Professor was blocking them from view. He eventually handed Ash the first item which Ash immediately knew was a Pokedex which confused Ash since Dexter was still more than capable of being a Pokedex for him.

"I can see you're confused so let me explain; this Ash is an updated Pokédex. It will tell you the ability, move set, gender and many other facts about the Pokémon being scanned."

Ash was amazed how much of an upgrade this is from his old Pokédex, he gratefully took the device and placed it in his pocket. While Dexter had done the job he was clearly outclassed by this new Pokedex. The second item was then presented to Ash, he immediately knew that it was a Pokenav which was apparently becoming a must have device for trainers. The Professor gave the device to Ash which he placed in his other pocket.

"And this as you know is a Pokénav. A friend of mine in Devon Corp sent it here but I think you will have more use for it than me. It has a built-in map and phone that are simple to use and can be accessed almost anywhere. Devon are supposed to be making upgrades as we speak so when you get to Rustboro you could ask them to take a look at it."

"Wow Professor these are amazing thanks a lot."

"No problem Ash, you've proven to me that you deserve these. There is one last thing which is probably the most special thing of all and that is that I have upped your Pokémon limit from six to twelve. Since you said you intend to take older Pokémon with you to help train any new ones it was obvious that only having six Pokemon with you wouldn't leave much room for new ones."

Ash was astonished at this far more so than the previous gifts, he'd been given two pieces of high tech equipment and now the Professor was doing this too. This was a something Ash wouldn't take for granted as there were only a few chosen trainers other than gym leaders, Elite 4 members and Champions that had access to this.

"Thank you so much Professor, I truly appreciate all of this. You've done so much for me since my journey started and I really can't thank you enough."

"It's no problem Ash, as I said you have proven ti me that you are worthy of this responsibility. Now go choose your Pokémon that will go with you to Hoenn and get home to your mother."

Ash nodded and went into the coral, when they saw him his Pokémon flooded around him all looking excited as they knew today was the start of their next adventure. They all looked at Ash hoping they'd be the first to go with him to Hoenn. Ash looked through his Pokémon for a moment and finally settled on the four that he would take with him.

"Listen up everyone Professor Oak has upped my limit so I will take four of you with me. Remember it will be rotation so you will all be called up at some point. Totodile, Cyndaquil, Pidgeot and Phanpy you're coming with me first."

The selected Pokemon all cheered happily and Ash returned them, he then put their poke balls on his belt making him realise that he was going to have to find someway to carry his extra Pokemon. He looked to his other Pokémon, many of them looked disappointed and were grumbling at not being chosen.

"Hey cheer up guys, like I said you will all be called up at some point so I'll see you all soon."

His Pokémon nodded in response even though they still felt a little down. Ash turned around and left waving goodbye to his Pokémon who now returned to their earlier activities. Ash said a quick farewell to Tracey and Professor Oak thanking the latter again for the gifts and then headed home. When Ash got home he walked inside and hugged his mother knowing that he probably wouldn't get the chance to do this again for a long time. When the hug was reluctantly broken Ash picked up his new back pack and put it on.

"Ash before you go there is a surprise for you in your room."

Ash quickly shrugged off his back pack and went upstairs curious about what his mother could have gotten him. He opened the door to his room and was gobsmacked by what he saw. Before him stood a mannequin his size which was dressed in a black sleeveless knee-length trench coat, a hooded royal blue long-sleeved shirt, black jeans with multiple pockets on them, brown leather gauntlets and black combat boots that go just above the ankle. Delia walked in and stood next to him, she took a look at his face and smiled at what she saw.

"So by the look on your face I'm guessing you like it. It's taken me a couple of months to make it but I think it was time well spent."

Ash wrapped his arms around his mother tightly and she gladly returned the hug, he pulled back and looked up at her. Delia smiled as it was clear that Ash liked the outfit she had made for him.

"Thanks mum this is incredible."

"You're welcome. Now try it on."

He quickly stripped the mannequin prompting Delia to leave the room, she went downstairs to get the last part of the outfit that had only been finished last night. Ash walked down a few minutes later wearing the clothes she made, she smiled at she saw how well they fit him.

"These clothes are incredible thanks a lot mum, so what do you guys think?"

Raichu and Meowth nodded in response and gave him a thumbs up. Delia remembered the last part of the outfit, she took the belt off the table and handed it to Ash. He took a quick look at it and was shocked to see that it had slots for twelve poke balls as well as his new Pokédex and his Pokénav. He noticed that his mother had also made places for various other items which including a flashlight. He looked at his mother in shock, he'd only just received these items and yet she already had something custom made for them.

"How did you...?"

"Professor Oak told me a couple of weeks after you started training with him that when you were ready he was intending to give you those items. I knew you'd need a way to carry them so I made this for you, I only finished it last night."

Ash was surprised that Professor Oak had had this planned for so long and that his mother had managed to keep it a secret all this time. He put the belt on and slotted his poke balls, Pokédex and Pokénav into the slots, he hugged his mother again and walked to the door.

"I'll call you as soon as I get to Hoenn."

"Okay Ash. Have fun and remember to change your underwear every day."

Ash's face went bright red as Raichu and Meowth laughed hysterically at him.

"Mum! I'm fourteen now you don't need to remind me to do that!"

"I know honey but you know what they say old habits die hard. I'll miss you."

"I'll miss you too mum."

Ash opened the door and after giving his mother a final wave he left the house and started walking towards Route 1 with Meowth and Raichu either side of him. Delia watched her son from the door with a tear in her eye, she walked out of the house with Mimey and they waved at the trio who did the same until they were out of sight. Delia stood outside for a moment longer feeling incredibly proud that Ash had matured so much and then followed Mimey back inside.

* * *

Ash got to the outskirts of Pallet Town when he heard someone yelling behind him, he stopped where he was as he recognised the voice. He turned around and saw that it was indeed Tracey with his hands on his knees and he was breathing heavily.

"Hey Tracey why are you here?"

"Well you see Professor Oak found someone who wanted a Tauros." Tracey replied after taking a few moments to fill his lungs with air.

Ash had honestly forgotten that he'd asked Professor Oak to do that for him since it had been so long since he had last asked him. After the first month of Professor Oak telling him that due to how common Tauros were in Kanto and Johto nobody really wanted one Ash gave up hoping that he could trade them. Tracey then took a poke ball out of his pocket and presented it to Ash. He took the offered poke ball and asked.

"So he told me to give you this." Tracey added.

"Thanks Tracey, so what's inside this Poke ball?"

"Take a look for yourself Ash, I promise you won't be disappointed."

Ash felt excited to meet his new Pokemon so he opened the poke ball and revealed a Pokémon that is primarily a bluish black colour with three bright red feathers for its tail and a single one on its left ear. The ear feather seemed shorter indicating that it was a female. On her forehead and chest are yellow, oval markings. She has red eyes with black eyelash-like marking on the edges. Her feet and hands have two large, retractable claws each.

"Wow a Sneasel."

Ash hadn't been expecting to get such a good Pokémon through trading his Tauros. He didn't have any Dark or Ice types so Sneasel would be an excellent addition to the team. Then again Ash would have been happy with almost anything.

"The Professor also said that he only has access to traders in Kanto and Johto so you may have more luck if you go to the Global Trade Station in Hoenn."

"Okay I'll make sure to stop there at some point, tell Professor Oak that I'm really grateful for doing this."

"Good luck Ash." Tracey said as he shook Ash's hand.

"Thanks Tracey, I'll see you after I win the Hoenn League."

Tracey gave a small nod, he turned around and started to walk back to the lab leaving Ash with his new Pokemon. Ash then crouched down to Sneasel's level and looked her in the eye.

"Hello there, I'm your new trainer. I can tell that you're a strong battler but before we start working together I'd like to be your friend."

Sneasel was slightly surprised to hear that, she had only been recently caught by her old trainer and hadn't given him the chance to befriend her. She had always assumed humans saw Pokemon as servants but this boy was giving her a completely different impression. She looked to the powerful looking Pokémon stood either side of her new trainer and she could tell by the look in their eyes that what the human no what Ash had said was true. Ash then extended his arm towards her.

"So what do ya say?"

The kindness in his voice, the determination in his eyes and the strong appearance of his Pokémon was all the evidence Sneasel needed. She put her clawed hand in Ash's and shook it knowing that Ash would be a great trainer. Ash smiled partially in relief, he wasn't sure how Sneasel would react and was just glad that she was on side.

"Great. So let's get going."

Sneasel nodded and then let a squeak of surprise as Ash scooped her up and cradled her in his arms. It felt strange to be held like this as she hadn't felt like this since she was a young child and she found herself liking this so she snuggled into his embrace. Ash smiled and started walking down Route 1 hoping that there would be no more delays but knowing his luck there would be.

* * *

Ash, Raichu, Sneasel and Meowth were not that far from Vermillion City now. After some internal debate Ash had decided against flying on Pidgeot so he could spend time talking with Sneasel and find out a bit more about her. From the stories she had told them Ash had come to the conclusion that she was quite the prankster. Although almost all of her stories were about times before her previous trainer had captured her.

They were about a mile from Vermillion and were talking when suddenly Ash heard Pokémon cries. He immediately knew that something was wrong because those cries were clearly pain filled. Without a moments hesitation he ran in the direction he heard the cries and found three Team Rocket Agents attacking a pair of shiny Eeveelutions; an Espeon and an Umbreon. A quick glance at them told him that both of them were clearly unable to battle and were now being brutally beaten, this enraged Ash and his Pokémon.

"Meowth and Raichu use Thunderbolt."

Neither Pokemon needed to be told twice and they sprang into action, both of them quickly fired a bolt of electricity that arced off to all of the Team Rocket Pokémon which knocked almost all of the out. The only survivors were an Arbok and a Weezing which were obviously far stronger than the others but even they were struggling to stay up. The grunts glared at Ash and his intrusive Pokemon, thy had been on verge of capturing some rare Pokemon and he was meddling.

"Weezing and Arbok use Sludge Bomb and get rid of this annoying brat."

"Use Quick Attack then follow it up with Iron Tail."

The Weezing and Arbok quickly shot several globs of purple sludge at Raichu and Meowth who shot off at an amazing speed and easily avoided the toxic sludge. After easily dodging all of the sludge they rammed into Arbok and Weezing knocking both Pokémon back. Raichu and Meowth then leaped into the air and their tails turned a metallic silver, they aimed their hardened tails at their foes and slammed them into Weezing and Arbok which sent them crashing into the already beaten Pokemon. Weezing then accidentally released a thick fog of poisonous gas around them which made Ash smirk as he came up with an idea.

"Now get rid of them with one more Thunderbolt and this time don't hold back."

Raichu and Meowth nodded and they released a couple of immensely powerful bolts of electricity at them, the electricity caused the gas to explode and send the defeated grunts and their Pokémon flying into the sky. They watched the Team Rocket members until they were out of sight.

"You know it's gonna sound strange but I'm gonna miss seeing that."

Ash and Raichu laughed as they remembered all the times that they had watched Jessie, Jame and Meowth go blasting off. Meanwhile Meowth grumbled at the comment and Sneasel looked at the trio wondering what was so funny. Ash stopped laughing when he saw the unconscious Eeveelutions who were lying motionless on the ground. He knelt down next to them and began using the techniques he'd learned in the last three months doing everything he could to heal their wounds.

After a while the Eeveelutions woke up they both felt exhausted both physically and mentally however their wounds didn't hurt anywhere near as much as they had done prior to them passing out. The Eeveelutions managed to get to their feet and shakily went over to Ash. The Espeon stared intently at him for a moment and the jewel on her forehead lit up for just a second. She then turned to the Umbreon and they appeared to be having a conversation through telepathy. They both nodded and the Espeon then went into a den behind them. She came out a moment later with an egg, she walked back and was now stood next to the Umbreon. Ash then heard a voice in his head.

 **"Human could you kneel down please?"**

Ash nodded, the telepathy didn't really surprise him as he had met so many Legendary Pokémon that have used the same way of communicating. He knelt down to their level and to his surprise the egg was placed in his arms which confused Ash.

"Why have you given me your egg?"

 **"You saved us and our children from those men when you could have left us. I looked into your mind and saw that you are kind-hearted, honourable and selfless. We would be honoured if you would train our child."**

Ash clutched the egg to his chest.

"The honour would be all mine. Thank you. I promise I'll take good care of your child and someday I'll return so you can meet your child."

 **"Thank you."**

Ash nodded and got to his feet once again with Raichu and Meowth stood either side of him and seeing that the egg was now in his arms Sneasel made her way onto Ash's head shoulder. Ash gave a quick wave to the Espeon and Umbreon hoping that he'd see the pair again someday, he turned around and the Eeveelutions watched Ash walk away both knowing that they had made the right choice. An hour later Ash walked into Vermillion City his destination being the Pokémon Centre. He walked inside and saw Nurse Joy sat behind her desk looking incredibly bored she perked up when she saw Ash.

"Hello Ash, would you liket an incubator for that egg?"

"Yes please Nurse Joy, I was also wondering if you could give it some scans to make sure everything is okay."

"Sure I'd be happy to do that Ash. Follow me."

She walked out from behind her desk and went through a door which led to a room that was dedicated solely to eggs. Ash quickly followed her in and gave her the egg. She placed it in an incubator and then put the incubator on a scanning machine. The machine began making a series of noises and printed out a sheet of paper which had several lines on it. Ash guess that one of them represented heartbeat but the others he wasn't sure about. Nurse Joy looked at the sheet while mumbling under her breath.

"Well you have taken excellent care of this egg. You should be proud."

"I'd love to take the praise but I was only given this egg about an hour ago. Do you know when it will hatch?"

"You're in luck Ash, from what I can tell you should only have to wait a few days."

Ash was excited to hear that he wouldn't have to wait long until he met the Eevee.

"Thanks Nurse Joy."

"No problem I'm happy to help." Nurse Joy replied as she put on one of her trademark smiles.

She handed the incubator to Ash and he walked out of the Pokémon Centre feeling even more excited for his journey through Hoenn. He went down to the docks but to his disappointment he was told that he'd missed today's ship by quite a few hours so he had to wait until the next ship came tomorrow. Ash sighed, he was kind of annoyed that he'd have to wait another day before he could get to Hoenn but there was nothing he could do now.

With no other options he went back to the Pokémon Centre hoping that there was a spare room he could stay in for the night. Luckily there was one left which he gratefully took and he went straight to the room, he placed the incubator on the desk and got into the bed. Meowth, Sneasel and Raichu then crawled into the bed with him. Ash then remembered to let out all of his Pokémon as he had found out thanks to Meowth that they preferred sleeping out of their poke balls and they all quickly fell to sleep.

* * *

Notes

Please give a review telling me what you liked/didn't like.

This chapter is another example of how the key events haven't change but it has been heavily edited.

If you have any questions I am more than happy to answer them.

There is a poll up so please check it out and vote.

I kept the shiny Eeveelutions – But shiny Pokémon will not be encountered frequently like they were in the original.

Ash:

Kanto – Raichu, Meowth, Ivysaur, Wartortle, Charizard, Pidgeot, Kingler, Muk, Tauros(x29) & Snorlax

Johto – Totodile, Bayleaf, Cyndaquil, Heracross, Noctowl (Shiny), Phanpy & Sneasel


	3. Arrival's & Rescue's

Thanks for the reviews guys I really appreciate you taking the time to write one.

I forgot to mention that the shiny Espeon in the last chapter is more of a peach colour based on fanart by magic-lover2128. The pic is on Deviantart as well as some other great alternative shiny Pokemon.

Here's chapter 3 I hope you enjoy.

In conversations:

'- Translation of Poké Speech – No human unless otherwise stated can understand it.

"- Human speech

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon.

* * *

The next morning Ash awoke early as usual and after a quick breakfast he headed down to the docks intent on catching the boat to Hoenn today. He knew that he was hours early but he didn't want to miss another boat after narrowly missing the one yesterday. He knew he was probably just overreacting because of what happened the previous day but knowing his luck if he went somewhere else something would happen that would make him miss today's ship. He found a bench on the dock and took a seat. Raichu and Meowth took a seat either side of him and he rested the incubator in his lap. The sun was shining and it made the ocean glisten. They gazed out at the ocean and were amazed at how beautiful it looked.

The view made Ash think of Misty and her love of the water, he knew she would have loved this view which made him feel a pang of guilt. He hadn't told Misty or Brock for that matter that he was leaving for Hoenn to compete in their league. He'd travelled with them for so long that he knew as soon as he told them his plans they would feel guilty for being unable to join him since they both have commitments both to family and their gyms. It was because of those reasons that he didn't tell them as he'd rather have them be mad at him than have them feel guilty because they couldn't join him. Besides this was a journey he wanted, no had to do on his own if he wanted to develop his skills.

Ash was brought out of his thoughts by the booming sound of a ships horn echoing in the docks. He jolted up from the bench and checked his watch which showed to his surprise he had in fact been sat on the dock for over a couple of hours. He looked around the dock and saw that there were now a horde of people also stood waiting for the ship. A few moments later the ship weighed anchor and the passengers disembarked some of whom were taking their first steps into Kanto. Ash chuckled as he heard young trainers talking with the same over confidence he had done. Once the last of the passengers had left the ship the crowd on the docks all began pushing each other in an attempt to get on the ship, Ash had seen this coming so he had sat back down on the bench and waited for everyone else to board.

Eventually a semblance of order was achieved and the crowd were led onto the ship, once the crowd started to thin Ash got up and walked up the ramp. He flashed his ticket to the sailors at the top of the ramp and was given a room key. With a quick nod in thanks he walked along the deck eventually coming to the room he'd been given. He opened the door and looked around, it was a modest room with just a single bed, a table and a chair.

Despite the temptation to stay in his room and avoid the mass of people who would be flooding the decks Ash didn't want to spend the trip confined to this room. So dumped his backpack on the bed since it was unneeded and made his way to the main deck. He spotted a couple of free deck chairs and immediately sat down, Raichu and Meowth then curled up on the chair next to him. With a content sigh Ash laid back in the deck chair and the trio just enjoyed being out in the sun, it was a hot day but the cool breeze made it a perfect day to be outside.

Ash then heard what sounded like a Pokémon battle, thinking that watching or even participating a battle would be a good way to pass the time he decided to investigate. It didn't take long for Ash to find the deck where the noises had been coming from and when he arrived there he saw that like he had thought a battle was taking place. He watched the battle currently being fought and it was obvious to everyone watching that this battle was looking pretty one sided. There was a substantial difference in skill, experience and power between the two resulting in a very unfair fight. It was clear to that the match should have been finished a long time ago but the more experienced trainer appeared to be toying with the poor boy.

The young trainer looked to be on the verge of tears as another attack hit his Charmander and sent the fire type crashing to the ground in front of hs trainer. Ash was surprised that somehow the plucky Pokémon managed to get back to his feet but he was clearly in no state to continue this battle. The experienced trainer gave his Hitmonchan another command and it ran at the Charmander as its gloved fist glowed white. Ash couldn't stand by and let this go on any longer, this wasn't a battle anymore this was just a savage beating.

"Raichu block the attack with Iron Tail then hit him with a Thunder Punch."

Raichu nodded and leaped into action at Ash's command, his tail immediately turned metallic as he dashed to intercept the attack. Hitmonchan was oblivious to what Raichu was doing and was rapidly closing the distance between himself and the enemy Charmander who was too tired to move. The fighting types fist glowed and he threw it forward at Charmander who shut his eyes and braced himself for the pain to come. Suddenly there was indeed a cry of pain but to the shock of all it didn't come from the Charmander.

The small lizard opened his eyes wondering what had happened and saw the Hitmonchan holding his fist and grimacing clearly in a lot of pain. The scene confused Charmander who then saw that there was a strange tail in front of him, after a quick inspection he was sure it was a Raichu's tail and since it was looking almost metalic he guessed that the mouse had used Iron Tail to block the attack meant for him. Despite what had happened during the battle Charmander felt a little sorry for the Hitmonchan, hitting an Iron Tail must have bloody hurt especially considering the force the fighting type was putting behind his punches.

Before Charmander could thank his saviour he watched as the odd looking Raichu shot forward giving the Hitmonchan no chance to recover. Within seconds the Raichu had hit the boxing Pokémon with an electric infused uppercut which sent him crashing back to his trainer unconscious. The trainer growled angrily as he returned his knocked out Hitmonchan and then he glared at everyone wondering who had interfered in his fun.

"Who dares to interrupt this battle?"

"That would be me, we all know that that match had been over ages ago. You should not have continued torturing Charmander like that, it was cruel." Ash answered as he sent a terrifying glare at the trainer.

"I don't know who the hell you think you are but you should not interfere in my affairs. Do you not know who I am? I am Dan, the mighty."

Ash sighed at the arrogant twat stood across from him, he thought Gary was a tosser but this guy bought a whole new meaning to the term. It was obvious that he needed to be taken down a peg or two and shown how proper trainers battle.

"More like Dan the dickhead, well Dan my names Ash Ketchum and I think it's about time someone gave you an arse kicking. And since I have some spare time I guess I'll do the honours."

Dan glared at the insult and then suddenly burst out laughing at Ash.

"Ah man that was hilarious I'm gonna enjoy beating you to a pulp."

As Dan continued to foolishly mock Ash the crowd were mumbling to each other. Many of them had heard of Ash Ketchum and knew that he shouldn't be underestimated. A few spectators saw a chance to make things more interesting and earn a little cash so they started making bets on who would win the upcoming battle. Ash paid no attention to the people and walked to the side of the deck opposite to Dan. Ash handed the incubator to Raichu who protectively wrapped his tail around it to keep it safe, Meowth positioned himself slightly in front of Raichu just in case there was trouble.

"How does a three on three battle sound?" Dan asked.

"That's fine." Ash replied as he wasn't really bothered

Ash watched as Dan threw took out three poké balls and threw them which revealed an Electibuzz, a Ninetails and a Cloyster. Ash realised that Dan had meant a triple battle not a series of one on one matches as Ash had assumed. While this was an unexpected turn of events it didn't really concern Ash, sure he didn't have any experience in this style of battling but it was too late to back down now. Besides Ash already knew that his Pokemon were far stronger than Dan's so it didn't matter what the battle style was, Ash smirked and took three poke balls off his custom belt.

"Totodile, Cyndaquil and Phanpy to the battlefield."

The trio came appeared on the deck and upon seeing their opponents got ready for battler, this made many of the female onlookers call them cute or adorable which slightly annoyed them. Some of the male spectators then said they looked puny and weak which really pissed them off. They didn't react to the crowd though they'd just show them in this battle how strong they are and that they should be feared. They heard laughing and saw that it was their opponents who were rolling around laughing at them hysterically.

"Hahahaha you're going to battle me with them puny little weaklings. You might as well give up now and save yourself from being embarrassed by me."

Ash looked at the trio on the battlefield and he had never seen them this pissed, sure they'd been angry in the past but this was far beyond that. The training over the past three months had made everyone take training and battling a lot more seriously especially when it came to being questioned on their power.

"You made a big mistake insulting us Dan and now you're gonna pay for that. I'll be nice though and let you have the first move."

"Yeah whatever, you've just made another mistake and now you'll be punished for it. Alright let's finish this loser off quick, Electibuzz Thunderbolt, Ninetails Flamethrower, Cloyster Hydro Pump."

"Phanpy Rollout, Totodile and Cyndaquil block their attacks with Counter Shield."

"Counter what?" Dan and many of the spectators asked.

Dan's pokemon quickly obeyed his commands, a bolt of electricity, a burst of flames and a jet of water were fired from the trio straight at Ash's Pokémon. Even though they could tell that the attacks would be no problem to just take Ash's pokemon did as they were instructed. Phanpy quickly got into a ball and rolled past the attacks, gradually building up momentum to strike the emeny. Meanwhile Totodile and Cyndaquil had got on their backs and began spinning while using Flamethrower and Water Gun creating a vortex of flames and another of water, the two vortex's merged into one and when the attacks from Dan's Pokémon hit the fire and water they were negated.

As they watched their attacks be completely neutralised their opponents' jaws dropped, they had never seen their attacks blocked that easily by Pokemon who hadn't even evolved. Due to their shock they completely forgot about Phanpy who was lining himself up for an attack. They got a reminder of his presence when Phanpy who had now picked up a tremendous amount of speed charged forward and rammed into all three Pokémon which knocked them to the ground. Phanpy swiftly returned to Ash's side of the battlefield and like Cyndaquil and Totodile was smirking at their opponents and the crowd who were surprised by the power these small pokemon had, the looks were seriously pissing off Dan especially when he started hearing people cheer for Ash.

"Don't just stand there, crush those weaklings. Electibuzz use Thunderpunch on that Totodile, Ninetails charge a Solarbeam and Cloyster Ice Beam."

"Totodile use Aqua Jet to dodge Electibuzz, Cyndaquil match the Ice Beam with Flamethrower and Phanpy use Take Down."

Cyndaquil, Phanpy and Totodile all nodded understanding what Ash wanted them to do and quickly put his plan into action. Electibuzz charged at Totodile his fist crackling as it charged with electricity, he threw his fist forward at the small Totodile who was surrounded in water and shot off over him dodging the Thunderpunch. Eletibuzz watched as the crocodile flew over him and zeroed in on Ninetails who was too busy charging the Solarbeam to dodge and was hit by the super effective attack which knocked her back. Meanwhile Cloyster fired a frozen beam at Phanpy but the ice was intercepted by Cyndaquil's Flamethrower, the clash of fire and ice created a mist of steam which made it almost impossible to see more than a few inches in front of them.

As the steam started to clear Cloyster was looking around trying to spot anything be it friend or foe. He suddenly heard something to his right and when he turned to look at who it was he saw Phanpy running straight at him, before Cloyster could reactthe young Pokémon slammed into him with Take Down sending him flying back into Ninetails. While in most circumstances Ash would have given his opponent a chance to recover he wasn't going to grant that same mercy to someone like Dan so he kept up the pressure.

"Flamethrower on Electibuzz, Hydro Pump on Ninetails and Hidden Power on Cloyster."

Totodile and Cyndaquil fired a burst of flames and a jet of water while Phanpy formed several green orbs around himself. Something that was obvious to everyone was that the attacks the trio had formed all looked far more powerful than the ones their opponents had launched. The trio fired the attacks at their intended targets and the attacks hit dead on as their opponents hadn't had the time to recover from the previos attack. Everyone could hear Dan's Pokémon give several pain filled cries at they were bombarded by attacks, once the attacks finally stopped Ash watched as somehow Dan's pokemon forced themselves to their feet however they were all clearly struggling to stay conscious. Ash was tired of this guy so he decided that he was going to end it now.

"Let's finish this, Phanpy Rollout, Cyndaquil Flame Wheel and Totodile Aqua Wheel."

All three curled themselves up, Totodile was surrounded in water and Cyndaquil was engulfed in flames the trio then charged at their still staggering opponents. Electibuzz, Ninetails and Cloyster watched the as the three Pokémon hurtled towards them and shut their eyes resigned to their fate as they were all far too tired to even attempt to dodge. Moments later Cyndaquil, Phanpy and Totodile slammed into their exhausted opponents and instantly knocked the trio out. The majority of the people who'd been watching the battle were in shock, it seemed implausible that a trio of small and rather cute looking Pokémon had won so easily against fully evolved opponents.

Ash smirked at the stunned look on the spectators faces and at the dejected look on Dan's, with a chuckle he returned his Pokémon and then knelt next to Raichu to take the incubator back from the mouse. Ash stood back up and was once again flanked by Meowth and Raichu, the trio looked at Dan one last time feeling so satisfied at what had transpired and then theywalked away without a word. He considered going back to the main deck but didn't want to get disturbed by people wanting to talk about the battle so he went back to his room and placed the incubator on the desk. Since he had no plans to go out Ash sent out the rest of his Pokémon apart from Pidgeot who was just a bit too big for the room so they could relax too.

While his pokemon talked about the battle Ash got some of the food he'd made before leaving yesterday and put it in bowls for them. They quickly stopped their conversation and demolished the food making Ash wonder if they'd had the time to actually taste anything. It amazed him to think that he used to eat like that and made him wonder how Brock and Misty put up with him during meal times.

The group stayed in the room for the rest of the day spending time with each other, the Pokémon enjoyed spending time with their trainer and Ash loved being surrounded by his extended family. As it got to late afternoon Ash left the room solely so that he could let Pidgeot out for a while to get some air and eat her meal. After dinner he went back to his room and to his relief he somehow managed to avoid anyone who had seen his battle. He crawled into bed and quickly fell to sleep surrounded by his Pokemon.

* * *

Ash woke up the next morning to the voice of the Captain saying that they would be docking in Slateport within the hour. By the time Ash had washed, fed his Pokemon and himself an hour had passed and the ship arrived in Slateport. Ash got off the ship and took his first steps into Hoenn feeling a rush of excitement for whatever Hoenn has in store for him. Remembering his promise to his mother he took the Pokénav off his belt so he could quickly call his mother to tell her he'd arrived safely. He dialled her number and her face appeared on the Pokénav's small screen, she smiled brightly as she saw that it was Ash.

"Hi mum."

"Hello Ash I'm glad you remembered to call, I guess you are in Hoenn now?"

"Yeah I am, it's already been a pretty crazy adventure since I left Pallet"

"Really? What happened?"

Ash proceeded to tell her everything that had happened so far, from meeting the shiny Eeveelutions to battling Dan on the boat.

"Well you've certainly had an interesting start to this journey, I just hope that you won't put yourself into any dangerous situations this time."

"I'll try to stay away from any danger." Ash chuckled nervously knowing that trouble had a way of finding him

"Well I suppose that's all I can ask, by the way Brock and Misty called. They wanted to meet up with you and talk about your plans since you hadn't really had much chance to talk to them when you came home."

"What did you tell them?" Ash asked, praying to Arceus that she hadn't told them where he was.

"I said that you had left home and were headed for Hoenn to compete in the league there on your own. Brock seemed very understanding although a bit hurt that you hadn't talked to him about your decision. Misty on the other hand well she didn't take it quite so well."

Ash face palmed and let out a groan, he was not looking forward to his next meeting with Misty since he was sure he'd be getting hit around the head with that mallet of hers.

"Wait you didn't tell them my number did you?"

"No I thought you'd prefer to call them when you're ready rather than have them call you."

Ash let out a sigh of relief. At least he had time to think about what to tell them.

"Thanks, I'm going to have to be careful with what I say to Misty."

"I'm sure she'll understand if you explain the situation to her properly. I would do it soon though as the longer you leave it the more upset she'll be."

"Yeah you're certainly right there. Okay mum I'd better get going. I promise I'll call you at least once a week."

"Okay honey have fun and stay out of trouble."

Ash nodded and hung up, he swiped across the screen until he got to the map feature on the Pokénav. He quickly spotted that Littleroot Town was just to the west of Slateport meaning he wouldn't have a long journey. With his destination planned he placed the Pokénav back on his belt and sent out Pidgeot. He put the incubator in his back pack to keep it a bit safer during the upcoming flight and got on Pidgeot's back.

"Okay Pidgeot head west as quick as you can."

Pidgeot nodded and in an instant took off, within a minute Slateport was just a speck in the distance as they flew over the ocean.

* * *

Pidgeot landed gracefully in Littleroot a couple of hours later far exceeding Ash's expectations of the flying type proving once again how hard his Pokemon had trained. Ash thanked the noble bird and then returned Pidgeot, he checked out he surroundings and started walking toward the huge building which Ash presumed was Professor Birch's lab.

He was hoping that it wouldn't take long for Professor Birch to sign him up for the Hoenn League as he had a tight schedule he was hoping to keep to which involved getting his first gym badge within a week or so which ideally meant he had to reach Petalburg by tonight. He walked up to the door and was surprised to see it wide open, he shrugged and entered the lab immediately spotting Professor Birch tapping away on his computer. Hearing footsteps behind him Professor Birch turned around to look at Ash.

"Hello I'm Professor Birch. Who are you?"

"Hi I'm Ash Ketchum. I'm here to sign up for the Hoenn League."

"Ah yes the promising young trainer that Samuel has been raving about, based on what I've heard I'm expecting great things from you."

"He really praised me that much?"

"Indeed, Samuel has placed a lot of faith in you Ash more so than any other trainer he has ever told me about. Right now that the introductions are out of the way we can get you signed up for the Hoenn League. Give me you Pokédex and I'll start submitting your data to the Hoenn League so that you can compete. This will take a while to verify though so take a look around the lab while you wait."

"Okay, thanks Professor Birch."

Ash handed his Pokédex to Professor Birch who inserted it into his computer, with little else to do Ash did as the Professor suggested and started looking through the lab starting with the main room. As he looked around he saw a very sad looking Mudkip sitting all alone, its shoulders were slumped and it was just poking at its food. Professor Birch walked in and saw Ash looking at Mudkip, he could tell that Ash was concerned about the little water type just like he was. Professor Birch sighed which caught Ash's attention.

"Poor little guy has been like that all day."

"Why is he acting like that?"

"Two people started their journeys today, one was a girl called May who chose Torchic and the other was a boy named Adam who chose Treecko. That meant that Mudkip has been left behind all alone and he's devastated that he wasn't chosen. It's a shame because honestly out of the three he is by far the best battler, but he is a bit of a prankster which probably didn't help his case as when he first saw May he shot a Water Gun in her face."

Ash let out a quick laugh and could only wonder how mad this May must have been, he then looked back to Mudkip who was now laid on the floor looking miserable.

"So what will happen to him now?"

"He'll wait here until next year when the next batch of trainers come to collect their first Pokémon of course by then I'll have another Torchic and Treecko so there's no guarantee he'll be chosen then either."

The idea that this Mudkip could be stuck here alone troubled Ash, he saw the depressed look on Mudkip's face and knew what he had to do. He gave a quick nod to Raichu and Meowth who took the incubator from him and placed it on the table. Ash then went over to the water starter and sat down in front of him, Mudkip looked up at Ash and the look in Mudkip's eyes broke the young trainer's heart. He picked Mudkip up and placed him in his lap, the action surprised Mudkip but he relished the attention as Ash started stroking him.

"Listen those other trainers don't know what they're missing out on, I can tell that you're a great Pokémon. So would you want to come with me if Professor Birch allows it?""

Mudkip to brightened up at Ash's words, a huge smile formed on his as he finally found himself a trainer. Realising he hadn't replied to the young trainer Mudkip responded by happily saying his name and rubbing his cheek against Ash's.

"I'll take that as a yes, so Professor Birch can I take Mudkip?"

"Sure you can Ash, I'm glad to see Mudkip get a trainer who can help furfill his potential."

Professor Birch handed Mudkip's poke ball to Ash who returned the water starter and clipped the poke ball to his belt. Ash walked over to the desk to pick his egg back up, when it suddenly started glowing. Ash quickly put the incubator back on the desk and took the lid off, he grinned knowing what was about to happen. Professor Birch, Raichu and Meowth left the room knowing how important the first few moments after an egg hatched are.

Ash stood excitedly watching as the egg cracked open and finally revealed the shiny Eevee he'd been expecting. Ash slowly picked up Eevee and cradled the tiny pokemon in his arms, Eevee looked up at Ash and immediately nuzzled into his chest. Ash smiled and walked into the next room to join Professor Birch, Meowth and Raichu. Ash had considered putting the baby into a poke ball but decided against it in the end as it might be scary for the young Pokémon.

"Well you're all signed up Ash, you're officially registered for the Hoenn League."

"Thank you Professor Birch."

"No problem Ash."

Ash took his Pokedex back and shook the Professor's hand, he then left the lab beginning his Hoenn journey and although that excited him his attention was mostly on the little Eevee in his arms right now. On the outskirts of Littleroot Ash took his Pokédex off his belt and quickly scanned Eevee finding out that he had a female Eevee with a fairly bog standard move set was as you'd expect but she did have two egg moves; Shadow Ball and Iron Tail which was a pleasant surprise for Ash. He put the Pokédex back in its place and continued walking.

* * *

About an hour after leaving Littleroot Town, Ash heard a scream coming from the nearby treeline. Without a second thought he shot off in the direction it came from and came to a clearing where he saw a girl that had a group of Poochyena and a pair of nasty looking Mightyena closing in on her. It was clear that this was a new trainer who needed help so Ash took three poke balls off his belt.

"Totodile, Cyndaquil, Phanpy to the battlefield."

The trio appeared in a flash of light, they were joined by Raichu and Meowth who were both ready to help deal with the pack. Ash could tell that the pack in front of him wasn't particularly powerful but they were numerous and they had two Mightyena leading them, both of which looked extremely and vicious.

"Me, Raichu and Meowth have got the Mightyena, you three take down the Poochyena."

Ash watched Phanpy, Totodile and Cyndaquil curl into balls and roll straight at the group of Poochyena which sent several of them skidding across the ground, blasts of fire and water were now being fired while Phanpy kept using Rollout to attack the Poochyena. The trio were dominating the Poochyena which left the Mightyena who were now circling Raichu and Meowth snarling angrily but neither Raichu or Meowth were fazed and simply stood back to back waiting for the Mightyena to strike. The Mightyena were surprised that their foes seemed to be unafraid so tried to look even more intimidating but Meowth and Raichu still weren't affected. Suddenly they pounced, angry that their usual tactic had failed they launched themselves into a savage assault at the cat and mouse.

"Iron Tail."

In a split second Meowth and Raichu's tails turned metallic, Raichu smacked his tail into one of the Mightyena's face and Meowth slammed his tail into the other ones gut. The attacks sent them both crashing into a group of Poochyena that were about to jump on Phanpy. The Mightyena got back up and snarled, completely enraged at being beaten back so easily the duo started charging at Raichu and Meowth.

"Use Quick Attack."

Raichu and Meowth began running at the charging Mightyena, Ash watched a little confused as Raichu wasn't hitting the speed Ash knew he could go and even more surprisingly Meowth was shooting way ahead of him. Suddenly Raichu became surrounded in electricity and with a burst of speed he shot past Meowth who was so stunned that he had stopped running. Ash was both stunned and extremely proud that Raichu had finally learned Volt Tackle after they'd spent so long trying to learn it when he was a Pikachu. Seconds later Raichu rammed into both Mightyena and they were both easily overwhelmed and went flying backwards landing amongst several of the Poochyena that had been knocked out by Phanpy, Cyndaquil and Totodile.

"Raichu get rid of them with Thunder."

Raichu fired the largest bolt of electricity he ever had at the pack, which made them all yelp in agony. The power of the attack created an explosion that sent the entire pack crashing into the forest behind them, slamming into the trees and boulders finally knocking them all out. Once Ash was sure that the pack wasn't coming back he returned Totodile, Cyndaquil and Phanpy so they could rest. He looked to where the bandana wearing girl was sat and Ash then saw the smouldering remains of a bike next to her, Ash groaned as this situation felt oh so familiar.

"Oh crap not again."

* * *

Ash stood there cursing his luck he couldn't believe that he'd trashed another bike, it was like he was starting all over again. He was surprised that the girl hadn't said anything yet but maybe she was in shock from the pack attacking her. While she sat there silently Ash wondered who she was, it was possible that this is May the girl that Professor Birch had told him about. She looked like an inexperienced trainer and they were really close to Littleroot Town so it would make sense. But then wouldn't her Torchic have been out fighting the pack? He'd just have to ask her about it when she started talking.

The girl was still on the ground clearly still in shock over what had happened so Ash held his hand out to the girl who took it and he pulled her to her feet. Ash braced himself as based on past experience with a certain redhead Ash was expecting a lot of shouting and he would probably be hit with something, but what happened shocked him. She hugged him, he grip was so tight that he was sure it would compete with his mothers and it was feeling like she would break him in two. He returned the hug as he heard her just saying thank you over and over. Eventually he released her grip on Ash and looked up at him gratefully making Ash feel a little embarrassed.

"You're welcome, so um are you okay?"

"I'm fine thanks to you."

"That's good, I was worried when I saw them surrounding you. Why did they attack you?"

"Well..."

* * *

Flashback

May was riding on her new bike down Route 101 with her new Torchic looking for any Pokémon to catch. She then saw a Poochyena eating from a berry bush, while it is a fairly common pokemon May just wanted to catch something. So she quietly got off her bike and silently walked behind the unsuspecting Pokémon. When they were close enough May nodded at Torchic who proceeded to attack the Poochyena with an Ember. The Poochyena was hit by the fire attack and yelped, this drew attention to them and May saw several sets of hate filled eyes looking at her and Torchic from the nearby bushes. The Poochyena and a Mightyena walked out of the shadows and they all looked extremely pissed.

Knowing that there was no way she could fight off the enraged horde she quickly returned Torchic and ran to her bike. She got on and began peddling as fast as she could but they were gaining on her fast and when she looked back to see how close they were her bike hit a rock on the ground and the bike flipped forward leaving her defenceless on the ground. Her only hope now was that someone would hear her and come save her so she screamed as loud as she could.

Flashback end

* * *

"And that's when you arrived."

Ash chuckled at how similar that was to his first day as a trainer minus the screaming of course. Now that he had taken lessons with Professor Oak he knew that Pokémon like Poochyena usually lived in packs so you attack one and you attack them all which meant that unless you had a full team you shouldn't really challenge them. May turned red feeling slightly embarrassed as Ash laughed at her story.

"Why are you laughing at me?!"

"Sorry I'm not laughing at you I was just thinking about how much it reminded me of my first day as a trainer."

"What happened?""

"Let's just say I pissed off the wrong Spearow."

"Hey I'm sorry about your bike." Ash said as he caught sight of her ruined bike but to his surprise she smiled and just waved a dismissive hand.

"Don't worry about it, it's no big deal. You saved my life and my bike was in pretty bad shape anyway from when it hit the rock and catapulted through the air."

Ash was glad that she wasn't mad at him, he didn't want to have to go through the region with her following him demanding repayment. He then realised that he hadn't introduced himself to her.

"By the way I'm Ash."

"Nice to meet you Ash, I'm May."

Just as Ash expected she was the girl Professor Birch told him about. He was about to ask her how Torchic was when his Pokénav started ringing. He took it off his belt and saw it was an unknown number. He shrugged his shoulder guessing that it must be a wrong number but he was curious just in case it was someone he knew so accepted call and a very pissed off redhead appeared on the screen.

"ASH KETCHUM I'M GONNA HUNT YOU DOWN AND KILL YOU!"

Her voice was so loud that Ash thought he'd been deafened, he'd expected her to mad but this was far beyond what he could have imagined. He was about to respond when he heard a whimpering sound and knew it was coming from Eevee. He looked at her and could see that she was terrified as she was trembling in fear which wasn't at all surprising. Although Ash knew that the consequences for this would be bad for him he hung up on Misty and hugged Eevee tightly. He kept a tight hold of her until her shaking gradually lessened.

"Hey boss how did the twerpette know your number?" Meowth asked.

"I honestly don't know but then nothing Misty does surprises me anymore. I mean she's been pulling her mallet out of nowhere for the last four years so her getting my Pokénav number isn't that farfetch'd. My guess is that she called Tracey and he gave her my number."

'You know you're going to pay for that when we finally see Misty again, she was already angry and what you just did will just make it ten times worse.'

"Yeah I know buddy but Eevee was scared and she is far more important right now."

Raichu nodded in agreement, the young Eevee was everyone's top priority right now and they would all do anything to ensure that she is safe and happy. Ash then remembered May had been stood with him the whole time, he turned to look and her and saw that she was wide-eyed and that her jaw had dropped.

"May?"

Her expression didn't change, it was as if she were a statue. Ash waved his hand in front of her face and then tried snapping his fingers but nothing broke her out of her shock. Ash rubbed his chin as he tried to think of something to break her out of her trance, then a very sneaky idea came to him.

"Mudkip to the battlefield."

Mudkip appeared and smiled brightly when he saw Ash, he'd already grown very attached to the one who was giving him the chance to get stronger. He then saw the girl he'd soaked earlier that day and a devious smirk appeared on his face. He shot a Water Gun and completely drenched her, this quickly pulled her back to reality and she stared at Meowth.

"What the hell that cat Pokemon just talked?!" May shouted

"Yeah he can talk better than most humans, he learned when he was younger, it's a long story." Ash replied.

May then realised that the Mudkip from earlier was now stood next to the talking cat. A drop of water then dripped down her face, with the shock wearing off May was now fully aware that she was dripping wet and the little monster in front of her was probably why she was wet. She pointed angrily at him as she shivered in her wet clothes.

"Damn it that Mudkip soaked me again, he's an evil little monster."

"That's more my fault than his May, you weren't reacting to anything I did so I had him Water Gun you. Don't worry we'll stop for lunch here and my Cyndaquil will warm you up."

May nodded in response to Ash and gave Mudkip a glare. She then shuddered again as a strong wind cut straight through her, an hour ago the cool wind had felt nice as she was riding her bike but now in these sopping wet clothes she felt like she would freeze to death. Ash saw how cold she now was thanks to Mudkip drenching her and sent out his Pokémon quickly telling Cyndaquil to sit near May so she could warm up. Cyndaquil nodded and sat in front of May, the new trainer was wondering how this little Pokemon could warm her up when flames then erupted from the four red spots on his back. The display made May jump a little in surprise and then she sighed in content as the wind no longer felt like it would turn her into a block of ice.

As she sat there gradually drying thanks to the Cyndaquil sat in front of her she watched as Ash started preparing lunch. By the time he was finished May's clothes had now dried and she was now sat with her Torchic.

"Okay everyone lunch is ready."

Ash's Pokémon didn't waste a second and they all started digging into the food. Torchic on the other hand was a little more wary so she only took a small bite to test it and was amazed at how tasty it was. This prompting Torchic to start scoffing the food just like Ash's Pokémon were. This sight made Ash chuckle as he watched the Pokémon devour the food as if they hadn't eaten for weeks. He looked back to May and saw that she was inspecting the sandwiches he had made, a look of curiosity on her face.

"What's in these?"

"Berries." Ash replied and then took a bite out of his own sandwich.

"You mean like Oran and Pecha berries?"

"Yep, trust me I know it probably sounds strange but just try one."

May was still dubious as she'd never tried eating the same berries that Pokemon eat but she had no reason to doubt what Ash had said so she took a bite. Ash watched May and smirked as he saw her face light up and moments later her first sandwich was gone. Ash kept munching on his as May demolished her next one in no time. After a couple of minutes she had finished every last one of her sandwiches and Ash hadn't even got half way. May was now looking longingly at Ash's plate, the young trainer from Pallet Town sighed and took a sandwich for himself before handing the plateful of sandwiches to May. As he watched the sandwiches vanish Ash started to realise how Brock must have felt throughout the majority of their adventure's through Kanto and Johto.

* * *

After they finished lunch Ash decided that he'd accompany May to Petalburg since he was going that way, which after the incident with the Poochyena she was grateful for. Ash had hoped to reach Petalburg today but realised that it probably wouldn't happen now but considering what had happened he would be happy enough reaching Oldale Pokémon Centre and getting to Petalburg early tomorrow morning. Ash returned his Pokémon while Meowth took a seat on one of Ash's shoulders, Raichu knew he couldn't do the same so he decided it would be a good time to practice his newly found powers. He stepped onto his tail and moments later he was levitating in the air riding his tail like a surfboard.

"Nice job Raichu, I knew you'd be able to get the hang of it."

Raichu grinned feeling incredibly proud that he'd managed to control his new psychic powers although he knew that actually learning to use his powers in battle would be far more difficult. That was something for another day though, for now Raichu was happy to just be making some progress.

With that the group began the journey north making sure to stay clear of any areas where packs of Pokemon could be. While they were walking Ash and May were both looking for Pokémon to catch. May soon caught a Wurmple hoping she'd get a Beautifly since it would be a great addition to her contest team. The only other Pokémon they encountered were Zigzagoon which was what Ash was expecting but he was still disappointed none the less. He wanted to add new Pokemon to his team but he wanted Pokemon that would be difference makers and he couldn't see a Linoone being one of those

When he could see the tops of houses Ash considered hiding Eevee away, carrying around a shiny Eevee would draw a lot of attention and she'd been a target for thieves. Ash knew that with Raichu and Meowth ready to fight they'd be able to fend off anyone but he didn't want to risk it. He looked at the inner pockets of his trench coat and saw that there was a deep one that Eevee could easily rest in. He looked at her and saw that she had fallen asleep at sometime without him even realising, he smiled at the peaceful look on her face and he gently eased Eevee into the pocket.

They walked into the Pokémon Centre and gave their Pokémon to Nurse Joy, the only exception being Eevee as she was still sleeping in Ash's coat. Nurse Joy took a quick look at their Pokémon and could see that they just needed a quick rest. The news was a relief to both trainers, Ash then found himself blushing as Nurse Joy mentioned that his Pokémon were in incredible condition showing that he must take very good care of them. After that Ash and May booked a couple of rooms and went to bed.

* * *

Notes

Please give a review telling me what you liked/didn't like.

If you have any questions I am more than happy to answer them.

Custom moves

Aqua Wheel – Equivalent of Flame Wheel

Ash:

On Hand - Raichu, Meowth, Mudkip, Totodile, Cyndaquil, Phanpy, Pidgeot, Sneasel & Eevee (Shiny)

Kanto – Raichu, Meowth, Ivysaur, Wartortle, Charizard, Pidgeot, Kingler, Muk, Tauros(x29), Snorlax & Eevee (Shiny)

Johto – Totodile, Bayleaf, Cyndaquil, Heracross, Noctowl (Shiny), Phanpy & Sneasel

Hoenn - Mudkip


	4. Ash Falls Even Further Behind Schedule

Thanks for the reviews guys I really appreciate you taking the time to write one.

So after the current poll ends I will be out of polls so I'd like you guys to suggest some polls you'd like to see. If I like them I'll use them in the future.

For the current poll I should clarify for those who haven't voted yet, Giovanni wouldn't be an enemy so to speak. His role would be anonymously feeding Ash information about Team Magma and Aqua so there are less evil teams for him to compete with. Giovanni wants to dominate the world but other evil teams would interfere with that so he is using Ash to get rid of them. I want him to be more of a manipulator than just a carbon copy of most villains. I probably didn't word the question right but that's basically what it would be.

Here's chapter 4 I hope you enjoy.

In conversations:

'- Translation of Poké Speech – No human unless otherwise stated can understand it.

"- Human speech

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon.

* * *

The next day Ash woke up raring to go, he wanted to get to Petalburg by mid morning so he could make up on lost time. He got all of his things packed and returned his Pokémon, clipping all of their poke balls back on his belt. With Eevee asleep in his arms Ash left his room and went to May's room, he knocked on the door but got no answer, he knocked harder but again got no answer. He checked his watch and saw that it was only 6am so he was pretty sure she'd probably never woken up this early before. He tried knocking a few more times but still got no answer so he changed his strategy to something he was sure would work.

"Hey May the Pokémon Centre has a huge buffet in the cafeteria. If you don't get down there soon you'll just have to have the warmed up leftovers."

Raichu and Meowth snickered quietly as they knew that would be enough to get May out of bed. The trio listened carefully for the sound of footstpes but at firrst they heard nothing, Ash was about to give up and go when he suddenly heard frantic footsteps inside. A couple of minutes later the door flew open and a fully dressed May ran straight past Ash headed for the cafeteria. As they watched her storm down the hall Ash, Meowth and Raichu broke into hysterics, they were laughing so hard that they having to wipe tears from their eyes.

The trio stopped laughing when they heard someone growling menacingly and footsteps thudding on the stairs. May got to the top of the stairs and saw the trio stood outside her door. She sent a terrifying glare at them which made all three get chills down their spines. Ash had to admit that May's glare would have challenged Misty's and that was saying something. She stomped up to Ash who nervously took a step back now regretting his actions.

"I'm gonna kill you." May growled.

"Now calm down May there's no need to get upset. I just thought you'd wanna get home as soon as you can so you can see your family."

"It's six o'clock in the damn morning, I want to sleep."

"Well you're awake now so we might as well get going."

She took a step forward and her glare intensified making Ash take another step back as his quickly thought about what he could do to placate her. An idea cam as soon as he hear May's stomach grumble.

"How about I make it up to you by making breakfast?"

At the mention of food she momentarily faltered, she was hungry but she still furious a being woken up so early. She kept glaring at Ash for about a minute and then she sighed.

"Fine, but it better be a damn good breakfast."

Ash sighed in relief, he wasn't going to make the mistake of angering May further so he didn't waste a second and quickly went downstairs. He walked to the main desk and pretty much begged Nurse Joy to allow him to use the Pokémon Centre's kitchen. To his relief she allowed it since the cook didn't start until half past seven anyway so they had plenty of time. Ash thanked Nurse Joy profusely and went into the kitchen so he could start making a variety of dishes for May who had taken a seat in the cafeteria. After ten minutes Ash stated serving the food, in hindsight Ash thought he probably went a bit overboard and made too much but he didn't want to take any chances. To Ash's surprise May polished off the lot, as she finished the last bite Ash stood there waiting, he was just hoping that he was back in her good books.

"So am I off the hook."

She gave him an angry look for a second and then a smile broke out on her face.

"Yeah I guess so."

Ash once again breathed a sigh of relief. He didn't like having people angry at him which reminded him that he had to call Misty and Brock when he got a chance. While Ash cleaned up the kitchen May went and got her bag, once everywhere had been properly cleaned the duo left the Pokémon Centre and headed west to Route 102. As they walked down route 102 they saw Zigzagoon, Wurmple, Poochyena and the odd Lotad playing around the bushes and ponds. Ash had considered catching one of the Lotad but he knew that it wouldn't really be a great addition to his team. Ash did want to catch more Pokémon than he had in previous regions but he was being selective, he wasn't going to catch a Pokémon just because it was there.

* * *

The pair reached Petalburg at about half past ten which considering they had taken a break was earlier than Ash expected. He walked through the small town with May to her house which he noticed was attached to the gym meaning that she was the daughter of Norman. While Ash thought about this May walked up pathway to the door and knocked it three times. While she waited for the door to open she heard footsteps walking away, May turned around and saw Ash now walking towards the open gate.

"Hey Ash where are you going?" May asked making ash stop in his tracks.

"Well I was gonna head to Nikita Town, it's on the way to Rustboro Town and there's a tournament there in a few days time so I want to get there for that."

"Well could you just come in for a while? I'm sure my family would like to thank you for saving me."

Before Ash could reply to May the front door opened revealing a woman with blue eyes and brown hair.

"Hello May."

The woman looked over May's shoulder and saw Ash.

"Who's your friend?"

"Mum this is Ash."

"Hello Ash. Would you like to come in?"

"Ok, thank you Mrs Maple." Ash replied not wanting to appear rude.

"Please call me Caroline, Mrs Maple makes me feel old."

Ash chuckled and with a nod her followed May as she walked inside the house. Once inside Ash took a look in the main room and saw a man he knew was the well respected Norman Maple sat in a chair reading a paper. May walked over to him and gave him a hug making him lower the paper and give May a disapproving look. As she saw the look May looked down guiltily knowing that she was in trouble.

"May you're extremely late, you were supposed to be home yesterday. Your mother and I have been worried sick"

"Sorry dad I was attacked by a bunch of Poochyena and a couple of Mightyena. So I got delayed also my bike is toast."

Norman and Caroline sent worried looks at May and Norman shot up from his chair checking his daughter for injuries making the the young trainer giggle as his overprotective and almost silly behaviour.

"Dad I'm fine, my new friend Ash saved me. His Pokemon dealt with the whole pack."

Norman and Caroline walked over to Ash, the former shook Ash's hand firmly and the latter pulled him into a hug that was even tighter than the one May had given him.

"May you are going to tell your father and I everything that has happened since you left to get your first Pokemon. I don't want you leaving out any of the details."

A young boy suddenly raced down the stairs with a smug grin as he looked at May.

"Is May in trouble?" he asked almost gleefully

"No Max, she's not in any trouble. She would have been though had she not had a good reason for being late."

Max pouted in disappointment and slumped into one of the spare chairs, while secretly he was happy to hear that May was okay he still liked seeing her get in trouble.

After introducing Ash to Max everyone took a seat and May began recounting what had happened from her first home, to choosing to Torchic, then angering the Poochyena and finally her and Ash walking home. She told everything in excruciating detail which made her little brother laugh when he heard about how Ash had woken her up. Max stopped laughing after he got a smack in the head from May and he grumble as he heard Ash chuckling. Once May was finished recounting everything that had happened Norman got up and shook Ash's hand again.

"Thank you Ash. You have no idea how grateful we are that you saved May. I don't think we'll ever be able to truly repay you."

"It's no problem Norman, I'm not going to leave someone in need of help especially against a pack of Pokemon."

"You're a good kid Ash, well this may not be much of a repayment but if you want you may challenge me for the Balance Badge right now."

"Thanks for the kind offer Norman and I truly appreciate it but I know the Hoenn League rules and I will adhere to them just as any other trainer would do. When I win the first four badges I'll return here and believe me that's a battle I'm looking forward to."

"Me too Ash, just don't keep me waiting too long."

"Well now that that is decided would you like to stay for lunch Ash?" Caroline asked.

Ash looked at the time and realised that he'd been here for over three hours. Seeing as how he was hungry and he didn't want to appear rude by rejecting the kind offer he stayed for lunch. Although he was way behind schedule he had enjoyed his time spent with them and was glad to spend a little more time with them. After lunch he knew he had to get on the road to have a chance of keeping to his schedule.

"I really must leave now sadly, I am way behind schedule on my plans so I have to get going. Thank you Caroline, Norman for your hospitality. Here is the number to my Pokénav, so you can call me if you need to."

"Okay Ash, thank you again for everything."

Norman shook Ash's hand a final time and Caroline, Max and May hugged him. He smiled and walked out of their home, after walking down the path he closed the gate and took one last look at the house before heading headed towards the western exit of Petalburg.

* * *

With no time to waste Ash left Petalburg and took his first steps on to Route 104. He checked the map feature on his Pokénav and guessed that he'd get to Nikita Town in about two days providing nothing else delayed him. After the setbacks he'd had thus far Ash didn't want to take any chances of potentially missing a good chance to test his Pokemon and see how much their training had paid off. Even though he was confident he wanted to get to Nikita Town early so he could get registered for the tournament and use the rest of the time before the tournament starts to train.

As he walked along the dusty path Ash was looking all around for some new diverse Pokémon to catch. He was hoping that his luck would change as he hadn't found any wild Pokémon he wanted to capture yet. However this route was known for having a good variety of Pokémon so he thought he had a good chance of finding something interesting. The sky was getting dark and Ash was about to set up camp when he thought he heard someone sobbing. He looked to the south where the noise was coming from which was a thick forest.

"Hey did you guys hear that?"

Meowth and Raichu both nodded and looked at the forest.

"Let's go see what's happening."

Ash walked through the forest carefully pushing obstructing branches aside. As he got deeper into the forest it thickened making it harder for him to get through the dense woods. He could hear the sobbing getting louder so he picked up the pace and pushed his way through a thicket of trees. Once he got past the trees he came to an open clearing and he saw a tiny figure leaned up against a tree.

He ran to the creatures side and saw that it was a young tiny Ralts. He felt his heart break for the Ralts, she was covered in blood and grime and her face was badly bruised. Ralts sensed that someone was near and she managed to open an eye and saw the human in front of her. She could sense that he was a kind, compassionate and loving person so she used the last of her strength to crawl to him and then she blacked out.

Upon seeing the small Ralts collapse Ash quickly got to his knees with Raichu and Meowth either side of him. Ash handed handed Eevee to Raichu and picked up the Ralts letting him get a closer look at her injuries it was obvious that she'd been abused by someone. Whether the damage had been caused by a trainer or by other Pokémon would be unknown until he could ask her. Judging by the size of her Ash guessed that she probably wasn't much older than Eevee which only made him more shocked that someone could do this.

He gently shifted Ralts into his right arm and sent out his Pokémon. They saw the badly injured Ralts in Ash's arms and they looked at the poor Pokémon with sorrow in their eyes. Ash told them to begin making camp but to be as quiet as they could be. They nodded and split up so they could do their own duties whether it was gathering fire wood, finding berries or looking around to make sure there were no threats in the area. Raichu and Meowth were the only ones who stayed behind so they could keep Eevee safe.

While his Pokémon were off setting up camp Ash took the Ralts to the small lake in the middle of the clearing. He took a cloth out of his back pack and started wiping the blood and grime off her, once he'd cleaned her he sprayed some of her worst wounds with a Super Potion and then placed her in his sleeping bag to rest. He sat there watching the poor young Pokemon hoping that she would be okay

* * *

Everyone spent the next couple of hours waiting for the Ralts to wake up. Ash's Pokémon had been trying to relax but they were far too concerned for the Ralts. As bad as it had been for them it was ten times worse for Ash, the only thing keeping him sane was Eevee who was sat in his lap practically purring in satisfaction as he groomed her. Ash heard a faint groan to his right and saw Ralts waking up, he stopped grooming Eevee who whined in discontent.

"Hey I promise that once I've tended to Ralts I'll get straight back to grooming you."

Eevee yipped happily and licked his cheek affectionately. Ash smiled back at his daughter and hugged her tightly, he then placed her on the ground and sat down next Ralts who was now sat up looking around in confusion. She saw the person he had seen before she passed and held her arms out, Ash knew what she wanted and he picked her up. As soon as she was in his arms she clutched on to his shirt and began bawling into it. Ash hugged her tightly and was rubbing her back in an attempt to calm her.

"Please calm down Ralts, nobody will hurt you now."

The sobbing seemed to lessen but she was still clinging on to Ash's shirt afraid that if she let go he would vanish and she'd be all alone. Ash moved his hand from her back to her head and began stroking her head which seed to help calm her as her sobs became whimpers. Now that she was calming down Ash thought that he'd try to find out what happened to her.

"Hey Meowth can you come over here?"

The cat stopped his conversation with Raichu and walked over to Ash.

"What do ya need boss?"

"I was wondering if you could translate what she's saying for me?"

"Sure."

Ash turned his attention back to Ralts who had stopped whimpering but was still shaking.

"How old are you?"

She looked up at Ash,with tear stained cheeks and started talking, when she finished Ash looked at Meowth.

"She says dat she is only a couple of weeks old."

Ash was shocked that someone could beat a young defenceless child so mercilessly.

"Who did this to you?"

Again he heard her talking. When she finished all of Ash's Pokémon looked horrified, their looks told Ash that it was a trainer who did this.

"Well by the look on your face I guess that you know that her trainer did this. He was training her but she couldn't do what he was asking so he got mad and told all of his Pokémon to attack her."

Ash was fuming, how could that scum bag try to make an incredibly young Pokémon start battling?

"Of course she can't start training, she's only a couple of weeks old. That trainer is an utter disgrace."

The sudden burst of anger from Ash brought a slight whimper came from Ralts . Ash heard the whimper and calmed himself down, he didn't want to scare Ralts anymore than she already was. He banished all the darker thoughts from his mind and smiled softly as her.

"Hey Ralts would you like to come with me? I promise that I will never do anything to hurt you." Ash said.

That was what Ralts had been waiting to hear, she knew that there was no other place she'd rather be. She felt safe in Ash's arms and knew that every word he had said was true. She smiled at Ash and nodded, Ash heard her saying her name over and over again. He smiled as he knew what she was saying.

"Well that settles it you're coming with us Ralts."

A huge smile broke out on her face and she nestled her head into Ash's shirt feeling safe in his arms. Ash tightened his grip on her vowed that if he found the trainer who did this to Ralts he would make sure that he would get a taste of his own medicine. What he didn't know that all his Pokémon had done the same thing. Ash decided that they would stay where they were, the sky was now pitch black and the only thing lighting the clearing was Cyndaquil's flames so there really would be no point in travelling any further today. Everyone agreed with Ash's decision and curled quickly falling to sleep. Ash was the last one to fall asleep the last thing he saw before he joined them in slumber was the smile on Ralts' face.

* * *

Next morning Ash got ready to set off bright and early, they had plenty of catching up to do if they wanted to get to Nikita Town on time. After everyone had finished their breakfast Ash returned all of his Pokémon and after a little internal debate he chose not to put Ralts in a poke ball yet for the same reason he not put Eevee in one. There was another reason for that decision, he was worried that she might associate being put in a poke ball with her former trainer which could be terrifying for her.

He was relieved to see that she was looking better than she did yesterday, the bruising had faded slightly but still looked very painful. He packed everything up and bent down picking the two young Pokémon up. Eevee and Ralts both happily nuzzled into his shirt and dozed off again. Ash looked at Meowth and Raichu who were stood either side of him.

"Hey Meowth, Raichu I want you to be on guard while I'm carrying Eevee and Ralts. We never know who or what might be lurking around here."

They both nodded and took their places either side of Ash, all three keeping quiet so that the young ones could get some rest.

* * *

It had been a couple of hours since they left their campsite and so far had run into no problems. With the path seemingly safe and since Ralts and Eevee had woken up a while ago everyone was on the lookout for any Pokémon. Suddenly Ash spotted one of the Pokémon he'd been wanting ever since he'd learned about the Hoenn region.

It was lying near a tree in the shade and it looked to be asleep. The Pokémon is a whitish insect. It has a pointed snout, a thin stripe that dips in a V-shaped pattern between its eyes, and whisker-like antennae on its face. Its eyes are black with green iris-like rings inside. Its hind legs are white and the forelegs are brown, and it has small, green wings on its back. Ash took one of the poke balls off his belt already feeling excited at catching his first Hoenn Pokemon, he didn't really count Mudkip as a capture since he hadn't had to battle for him.

"This is great guys, we've found a Nincada."

Ash placed Ralts and Eevee on the ground who both whined at not being in Ash's embrace anymore. Ash gave them a quick hug and stood back up fully focused on his target. Out the corner of his eyes he saw Raichu and Meowth stand in front of the two young Pokémon to protect them. Knowing that Eevee and Ralts were safe Ash threw the Pokéball that was in his hand.

"Totodile to the battlefield."

In a flash of light Totodile appeared on the path and looked focused, although he was still the happy-go-lucky Pokémon he'd always been he now knew that there were times when you had to be serious.

"Hit Nincada with Water Gun."

Totodile opened his mouth and fired a forceful shot of water at Nincada who jumped out of the way which surprised Ash as Nincada generally have poor eyesight and rely on other senses. This meant that this Nincada must have very heightened senses which impressed Ash and only made him want the bug type even more. He also had to admit that the Nincada's agility was also quite impressive.

In response to Totodile's attack Nincada scraped his claws across the ground which sent a cloud of dust at Totodile. The dust blinded Totodile for a moment which was long enough for Nincada to rush forward and ram into Totodile. The small crocodile staggered back a couple of paces but quickly recovered and smirked, he was going to enjoy this battle.

"Use Aqua Jet."

Totodile was surrounded in water and shot off towards Nincada who dug underground avoiding the attack. With no target to aim for Totodile stopped his attack and started looking all around him trying to see where Nincada was but couldn't find any sign of his opponent. The bug then burst out of the ground behind Totodile with its forelegs crossed in front of him and he hit Totodile with an X-Scissor. Again Totodile was momentarily stunned by the attack but he quickly went on the counter attack. His fist became encased in ice and he threw a punch at where Nincada was but the bug dodged by digging back underground.

"Totodile calm down and focus."

At Ash's command Totodile did as told, he steadied his breathing and closed his eyes which calmed him down and refocused him. He stood completely still looking almost serene, he suddenly felt the ground behind him shake and he turned around.

"Hit him with Iron Tail and then finish him with Ice Punch."

Nincada shot out of the ground and tried to use X-Scissor again like he had done before. But this time Totodile was ready and slammed his now metallic tail into the bugs midriff which sent him flying into the air. Totodile's fist was then encased in ice and he waited until Nincada nearly hit the ground and punched him making the bug slam into a tree. Nincada slumped to the ground, seeing his chance Ash threw a spare poke ball at Nincada, it shook three times before it signalled the capture.

"Great job Totodile, that Nincada put up a good fight."

'Thanks Ash.'

Totodile gave Ash a thumbs up and then began dancing happily making everyone laugh at the fact that in a matter of seconds he had gone from a deadly serious battler to someone completely carefree. Ash pat Totodile on the back and then went and picked up Nincada's Pokéball. Ash returned Totodile and put his and Nincada's poke balls on his belt, he bent down and picked up Ralts and Eevee and got back on the road to Nikita Town.

* * *

As midday approached Ash looked for somewhere they could stop for lunch and do some training. He searched for about half an hour until he finally came across a small clearing which would be perfect. He shrugged off his back pack at the base of a tree and put Ralts and Eevee next to it, he then sent out all his Pokémon so they could meet the new member of the family.

"Alright everyone we're doing some training today, Nincada, Mudkip and Sneasel you're with me the rest of you have a free for all. It will be a good opportunity for you to test any new moves you've been working on, this also give you great experience in fighting multiple opponents on your own."

The Pokémon all did as Ash asked and most of them began their battle royale. Ash went to check on his young Pokemon and saw that Ralts' shoulders had drooped and she started shuffling towards the other's. Realising that the young Pokemon must have assumed that she had to battle too Ash walked over to her and scooped her up, cradling her in his arms.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa I didn't mean you Ralts, you're staying with me and Eevee."

She looked up at him with a smile and with relief in her eyes which was no surprise to Ash considering everything she's been through in her short life. Ash smiled back at her until he heard an irritated yip and looked down at the pouting Eevee next to him, he chuckled at his other young Pokemon and bent down and picked her up.

"Sorry Eevee, I didn't mean to make you feel left out."

She yipped happily and licked his cheek, Ash chuckled and got the feeling that this was going to be a common event. Ash tightened his grip on both young Pokémon who snuggled into his embrace. Ash then started looking around the area, he wanted Mudkip to learn Iron Tail but he needed something heavy to use as weights for Mudkip since he didn't have access to the weights he used in Pallet. Ash then spotted a boulder and got an idea.

"Hey Raichu come over here."

The mouse broke off from the mêlée and was now in front of Ash wondering why he'd been called over.

"Can you go over there and use Iron Tail on that boulder and bring me back a heavy piece of rock that I can use for Mudkip."

Raichu nodded understanding why Ash wanted the rock and surfed on his tail towards the boulder,. He was gradually getting more confident in this ability and knew that it would come in handy during some battles in the future. After building up some speed Raichu leaped off his tail launching himself into the air and slammed his metallic tail on the boulder which shattered it. Raichu picked up on of the larger rocks and took it back to Ash placing it at his feet.

"Thanks buddy."

'No problem Ash'

Raichu saluted Ash and then turned around so he could jump back into the mêlée, Ash shifted Ralts and Eevee into one arm so he could take some rope out of his bag.

"Right Mudkip I am going to strap this rock to your tail-fin to strengthen it. When you're ready we'll work on Iron Tail, this is basically the same training all the others went through. Now once the rock is tied to your tail-fin I want you to run laps around the clearing and don't drag your tail-fin on the ground."

Mudkip nodded understanding his task and waited for Ash to tie the rock to his tail-fin. Ash was please to see the enthusiasm from Mudkip, he placed Eevee and Ralts back on the ground and began tying the rock to Mudkip's tail-fin. Once the rock was secure Mudkip quickly started to run around the area watching the battle between Ash's older Pokémon. This just left Nincada and Sneasel with Ash looking up at him and wondering what they were going to do, Ash at first had planned to see what moves they had but he saw the way both of them were staring at the free for all going on and he knew that was what Nincada and Sneasel wanted to be doing

"Okay you two I was thinking I'd heal you up Nincada and then both of you can get involved in the battle."

This seemed to please both Pokemon as the nodded, Ash rummaged through his backpack and got a Super Potion which he sprayed on Nincada's injuries which were now almost fully healed. Nincada and Sneasel then moved as quickly as they could to the battle and got involved. Nincada started trading blows with Totodile while Sneasel was battling Meowth. Ash sat down at the base of a tree with Eevee and Ralts and watched the battle unfold. He had done a lot of this kind of battling back at the ranch, it allowed him to see any weaknesses they had and it would be a good demonstration of Nincada and Sneasel's abilities.

* * *

Ash stopped the battle after about an hour and a half, he had been very been impressed by what he'd seen as everyone had clearly improved since the last time they'd battled like this. The real surprise though was how well Nincada and Sneasel did, he had expected them to take a break after fifteen minutes or so but they battled for the whole hour and a half. This performance from the pair certainly impressed Ash and he was certain that it wouldn't take long for them to catch up to the others. With the battle over Sneasel and Nincada staggered over to Ash, both were struggling to stand after the intense battle but both were proud of how they had managed to keep going against Ash's old Pokémon.

"I'm proud of you two, you were amazing out there."

This made both Pokemon feel even more proud at their performance, Ash smiled at the pair and then took a look at Mudkip who was doing one final lap of the clearing. He was amazed that Mudkip had kept going for the full hour and a half without a single break, it was clear that Mudkip was determined to do everything he could to become stronger. With the final lap complete Mudkip walked to Ash who removed the rock from his tail-fin and despite being exhausted Mudkip could feel that he had grown stronger from today's training

The rest of the Pokémon started walking back to where Ash Nincada, Mudkip and Sneasel were and then laid down, the newest members of his team looked exhausted and sweat was pouring off them which was no surprise considering the work out they had had today. Raichu and the other's were tired but were still more than capable of battling again should the need arise.

Their tiredness soon faded they saw the food Ash had prepared for them, they looked at it longingly with some even starting to drool a little. Seeing the looks on their faces made Ash chuckle, he put the food he had made into some bowls and placed them in front of the Pokémon. They dug into the food and instantly felt revitalised as Ash had crushed some Oran berries and sprinkled that on top of the food. As usual the food was polished off in no time making Ash chuckle again. They all then went off and started relaxing while Ash fed Eevee and Ralts

While Ash was feeding the young Pokémon he heard a rustling to his left where his back pack was. It didn't take a genius to know that it was Raichu searching for his favourite condiment, usually Ash would have been quick to stop the mouse however today he wouldn't as he'd planned a little surprise for Raichu with the help of Sneasel.

He looked over to Sneasel who was trying and failing to stifle a giggle, she knew what was about to happen and she couldn't wait to see it. Raichu completely oblivious to everyone now watching him kept rummaging through the bag until he finally found what he was looking for. He pulled the bottle out and stared lovingly at it. He took a few steps away from the backpack and took the lid off the ketchup which then exploded in his face covering him in ketchup. Everyone burst out laughing at the ketchup covered mouse.

Raichu turned around and sent everyone a glare but nobody was intimidated by the look it just made them laugh even harder. Raichu feeling embarrassed about the situation sat down and started trying to wipe the ketchup off but wasn't having much success. Raichu was still wiping the ketchup off when he was hit by two streams of water which completely drenched the mouse. He got to his feet and glared at the water types. Mudkip chuckled realising that he may have made a grave error in agreeing to Totodile's idea.

'Hey me and Totodile thought that you needed a hand cleaning the ketchup off.'

'Well let me repay you. I believe you two could use a bit of a shock.'

Raichu fired a Thunderbolt at them but they managed to dodge it and they started running around the clearing. Raichu started chasing the duo firing several Thunderbolt's at them but they were managing to avoid his weaker than usual electricity attacks. As he watched them run around the clearing Ash considered stopping them but he really didn't want to get in the way of Raichu right now so he left them be. If nothing else it would be a good way for Mudkip and Totodile to gain a bit of resistance against electric moves.

* * *

Notes

Please give a review telling me what you liked/didn't like.

If you have any questions I am more than happy to answer them.

Ash:

On Hand - Raichu, Meowth, Mudkip, Totodile, Cyndaquil, Phanpy, Pidgeot, Sneasel, Nincada, Eevee (Shiny) & Ralts

Kanto – Raichu, Meowth, Ivysaur, Wartortle, Charizard, Pidgeot, Kingler, Muk, Tauros(x29), Snorlax & Eevee (Shiny)

Johto – Totodile, Bayleaf, Cyndaquil, Heracross, Noctowl (Shiny), Phanpy & Sneasel

Hoenn – Mudkip, Nincada & Ralts


	5. Introducing Team Magma

Thanks for the reviews guys I really appreciate you taking the time to write one.

Well the poll was pretty conclusive and as I'm sure you've already guessed Ash's Journey Through Hoenn will be getting my attention.

This is a chapter that has take quite a bit of editing but it's mostly the same as the original.

Here's chapter 5 I hope you enjoy.

In conversations:

'- Translation of Poké Speech – No human unless otherwise stated can understand it.

"- Human speech

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon.

* * *

After a fifteen minute chase Mudkip and Totodile were finally hit by Raichu, the pair were just a little sore from the attack as Raichu hadn't hit them with a very powerful attack. It was more like a weak Thundershock, it was enough to hurt and make a point but not enough to seriously harm them. Afterwards Raichu had sat down grumpily on his own clearly still upset at the prank. Ash saw the look on the mouse's face and felt incredibly guilty as it was his fault that this had happened in the first place.

Ash opened one of the zipped side pockets on his backpack and took out the bottle of ketchup he had hidden there. He walked over to his best friend and offered the bottle to Raichu. The mouse looked at the bottle dubiously, after what had happened earlier he was reluctant to take it. Ash wasn't surprised that Raichu wouldn't take it so he unscrewed the top and took a sip from the bottle. Ash screwed up his face as he swallowed the ketchup, he didn't mind the stuff when he put it on food but just having the stuff straight out of the bottle tasted awful. Ash looked at Raichu who was now chuckling at Ash's reaction to his most loved condiment.

"How do you guzzle down a whole bottle of this at a time? The thought of doing that makes me cringe." Ash asked.

Raichu shrugged in response and quickly snatched the bottle away from Ash and sat down next to Totodile and Mudkip. The trio started talking showing that there were no hard feelings and Raichu started downing the bottle. Ash went back to his backpack and took out a bar of chocolate to hopefully get rid of the taste of ketchup in his mouth. He sat down next to Ralts and Eevee and then placed the young Pokémon in his lap both of whom smiled up at Ash. The pari then spotted the bar of chocolate that Ash was eating and stared at it wondering what it was. Ash saw the curious looks on their faces and broke a couple of tiny pieces off, he then placed the chocolate in their mouths. They let the chocolate dissolve in their mouths and Ash smiled as he saw the delighted looks on their faces. He gave them each another piece and then polished off the rest of the bar.

As it got late Ash looked at Totodile and Mudkip and saw that both of them still hadn't fully recovered from their incident with Raichu which didn't surprise him. Thanks to his evolution Raichu had a lot more power at his disposal and even a small Thundershock would do a fair amount of damage. Since the pair clearly need some more time to recover it was clear to Ash that they wouldn't get to Nikita before night fell so Ash chose to stay in the clearing and hopefully get to Nikita Town tomorrow provided that nothing else delayed him.

* * *

By the morning Mudkip and Totodile had recovered from their shocking experience yesterday and Ash was able to continue his journey to Nikita Town. To his surprise they had no interruptions all morning so for once in his career as a Pokemon trainer he made good time. After a few hours of walking through the forest the woods started to thin and buildings started coming into view on the horizon. Ash knew that it was Nikita Town which meant Eevee was going to have to be hidden again. As they got to the outskirts of the town Ash looked at Eevee sadly knowing that what he was about to say would break Eevee's heart.

"It's time for you to hide in my coat Eevee."

She whined in protest and looked up at him with sad wide eyes. The look broke Ash's heart and while he was sorely tempted to let Eevee stay out he knew that he had to do this to keep her safe.

"I'm sorry Eevee but it is for your own protection."

She hung her head in resignation and whined again but allowed Ash to put her in the pocket. She wiggled around in the pocket trying to get as close to Ash as possible to try and feel some of the comfort and warmth that she felt in his embrace. Ash didn't like having to do this but until she could defend herself she was a target for thieves and he didn't want any harm to befall her.

With Eevee now safely hidden Ash entered Nikita Town and took a quick look around and saw that it was similar in many ways to Pallet Town. The only major difference was the small stadium in the centre of the town and the Pokémon Centre next to it. Since this would be a common Route for new trainers to take to Rustboro it made sense that a tournament would be set up to help them gain battle experience. Ash was just hoping that they weren't all new trainers because he wanted his new Pokémon to have a challenge. It was obvious that his older ones would in all likelihood whitewash this so he wouldn't use them unless he knew it was a strong opponent.

After his quick tour of the town Ash walked down the high-street heading for the Pokémon Centre. He wanted Nurse Joy to check Ralts up for any other injuries she might have sustained. He was keeping said Pokémon shielded as much as possible, he had considered putting her in with Eevee but it would have been cramped and would have in all likelihood made Eevee even more miserable. He figured that Ralts wouldn't draw anywhere near as much attention as Eevee, as long as nobody sees her still badly bruised face.

They managed to get to the Pokémon Centre with very few people stopping them. It was mostly people wanting to see the cute Ralts in his arms. To make sure people wouldn't see her injuries every time someone did stop them Ralts buried her face in Ash's shirt. He'd give the person an apologetic look and tell them that she's young and shy which they all understood and bid the group farewell.

Ash walked into the Pokémon Centre and went to the main desk handing his Pokéballs to Nurse Joy who then caught sight of Ralts and gasped in horror at the state of her. Before the Nurse could yell at him Ash explained what had happened to Ralts and Nurse Joy looked even more mortified at what Ash had told her. Ash tried handing over Eevee and Ralts but neither of them wanted to be parted from Ash. They only agreed to go when Raichu and Meowth assured them that they would be right by them all the time to keep them safe. It didn't take long for Nurse Joy to do the check ups and found they were all healthy and that Ralts had no other injuries which was a huge relief to Ash. He saw the leaflets advertising the tournament on the desk and after he calmed Eevee and Ralts down he turned his attention back to Nurse Joy.

"I'd like to sign up for the tournament Nurse Joy."

"Okay, I'll just need your name and the four Pokémon you intend to use."

This new information surprised Ash, he didn't think he'd have to choose his Pokémon now in fact he had assumed that he would be free to use any of his Pokemon in the tournament. Forcing him to choose four now complicating things slightly since he really hadn't gotten a chance to see what his newer Pokemon were capable of.

"Do I have to choose now?"

"Yes the chosen Pokémon have to be registered with your application. It is done so that people can't get an advantage over their opponent."

Ash nodded, he understood the logic as newer trainers would learn nothing if they just relied on type advantage all the time. He stood in silence for a minute as he pondered who to use. He eventually managed to narrow his team down to four.

"I'm ready to sign up Nurse Joy. I'm Ash Ketchum and I choose Mudkip, Sneasel, Cyndaquil and Raichu."

"Okay you are now registered. You have five days until the tournament begins."

"Thank you Nurse Joy. Are there any rules for the tournament?"

"Yes the tournament is using double battles with the first trainer to lose all four Pokémon being eliminated. The prize for winning is a mystery egg and a set of evolutionary stones."

Ash was in a way relieved to hear that they were using the double battle style. He knew that Liza and Tate used that method in their gym and he needed to get some practice in before he battled them. Sure he'd won a double battle in the past while earning one of the badges in the Orange Archipelago but Liza and Tate were on a different level. Ash was also pretty surprised at the prizes for winning the tournament, he had expected the prize to be maybe some Great Balls or some Potions.

"Wow that's amazing, thanks again for everything Nurse Joy."

Nurse Joy gave Ash a small smile and a nod which was returned by the young trainer who then left the Pokémon Centre and began walking out of town again. Ash had considered finding somewhere to stay in the town but the clearing they'd been in last night was fine and had everything he'd need to train. As he walked back to the clearing he hoped that like today there were would be no distractions. Although he knew that things were never that simple for him.

* * *

When he got back to the clearing they had stayed in yesterday he sent out all of his Pokémon who all surrounded their trainer waiting patiently to be told what their training would be. They all knew that their was both the tournament and of course the first Gym battle coming up soon so they had to show that they were ready to battle.

"Alright Totodile keep working on Hydro Pump, you were pretty close back at the ranch and I think you will have no problem perfecting it soon. Meowth work on Water Pulse, you have come a long way since you first started learning the move and I think with a little more practise you'll be able to use the attack. Cyndaquil and Phanpy work on your accuracy for Hidden Power. You have the power you just need to work on the direction. Mudkip we are gonna keep strengthening your tail-fin. Pidgeot if you think your wings are strong enough now start working on Close Combat. If a Staraptor can learn it then I have no doubt that you can to."

The instructed Pokémon all nodded and started doing as Ash had instructed apart from Mudkip who had to wait for Ash to tie the rock to his tail-fin. Once the rock was attached he began running around the area as he had done yesterday, he could already feel himself getting stronger as it felt so much easier than it had yesterday. With a rush of confidence filling him Mudkip sped up and held his tail-fin high to maximise the training.

With everyone else training Ash was left with Raichu, Nincada and Sneasel who were all looking up at him wondering what he had planned for them. He'd already come up with a plan for his newer Pokemon which was find out the moves Sneasel and Nincada knew and then expand their movepool. This left Raichu which was proving to be a bit of a problem since Ash was unsure of to have him work on. After the tournament he was going to call Snorlax over to help him learn Hyper Beam. He suddenly felt Ralts snuggle close to him which gave him the perfect plan.

"Raichu now that you're a Psychic type we need to take advantage of this new power so I want you to try and master using your Psychic powers. If you're struggling with that then try learning Brick Break to give our movepool a little variety."

The mouse nodded in agreement although he was nervous about it to say the least. He was still a little unsure about how to properly access his new abilities as a Psychic type. He was relieved that Ash given him Brick Break as a secondary choice since as much as he hated to admit it his rather shallow set of offensive moves meant he would struggle against several opponents. A Fighting move would cover several of the types his Normal, Electric and Steel moves couldn't do much damage to.

"So do you think you'll be able to do that on your own while I work with Sneasel and Nincada?"

Again Raichu nodded, he was determined to not only utilise his Psychic powers but also master Brick Break. The latter would be simple as he remembered Charizard practising the move back and the ranch and he didn't think he'd have a problem replicating the move. The problem would come when trying to learn how to use Psychic, Raichu knew there was no point in worrying and scampered off to a separate part of the clearing and began trying to figure out how he could tap into his Psychic powers. This just left Sneasel and Nincada who watched as their new trainer took out what they had heard be called a Pokédex and aimed it at Nincada first.

"This Nincada is male and has the ability Compound Eyes. It knows the following moves Scratch, X-Scissor, Harden and Dig"

As he heard everything said about him Nincada was a little worried about what his new trainer thought of him. He knew he didn't have the biggest movepool around but it was an effective one none the less. Ash looked down at Nincada and was surprised at what he had heard, he hadn't honestly been expected to find much past X-Scissor and Dig due to him being a wild Pokémon. While Harden and Scratch weren't exactly the greatest of moves it showed that Nincada was obviously training hard in the wild.

"Well Nincada we've got to work on a couple of moves for you as it is a bit of a shallow move set right now. But I'm amazed that you knew X-Scissor and could use it so effectively in battle, that is really impressive."

Nincada beamed at the praise and felt any nerves he had had fade away. Ash could see that his words had clearly had a great effect on the bug and while he was tempted to just get him training Ash wanted to know how Nincada had gotten so strong. He called Meowth who was in the process of firing a Water Pulse over so that he could talk with Nincada.

"Hey Nincada how long had you been on Route 104?"

The bug chattered a few times in quick succession, once he was finished he looked at Ash and could see that he had no clue what he had said. Nincada sighed dramatically and scratches the ground in front of him twice and pointed to the scratches. Ash looked at the scratches guessing that it was two years, this amazed Ash since a Pokemon like that would usually be sought after by trainers. It did explain how he'd gotten so strong, perhaps he had fought off countless trainers prior to him which would also explain his strength. Ash started looking through the list of moves Nincada could learn and eventually decided on two moves which would be useful for the time being.

"Alright Nincada I think we should try Hidden Power so you have a ranged attack and Metal Claw which is a good coverage move. First we'll try Hidden Power since Phanpy and Cyndaquil are practising their accuracy with it right now you should train with them."

Nincada nodded and gave Ash a little salute which made the young man chuckle, with that Nincada walked off to the area Phanpy an Cyndaquil were. After firing off another attack they saw the bug coming towards them and stopped preparing their next attempt. Ash saw Phanpy and Cyndaquil instructing Nincada and knew he would learn it in no time. Now with just Sneasel left Ash scanned the Ice type wondering what she's have up her sleeve.

"This Sneasel is female and has the ability Inner Focus. She knows the following moves Ice Beam, Night Slash, Fake Out, Quick Attack, Iron Tail and Hone Claws."

Ash's eyes widened in shock, he'd expected her to a slightly developed moveset since she had been trained by someone else. This made Ash wonder who her previous trainer was since he or she had clearly trained her very well.

"Well I am very impressed Sneasel by what you know. Did your old trainer teach you these moves?"

She blushed at the praise and shook her head which only shocked Ash more.

"You mean you learned these moves all by yourself?"

She nodded to answer Ash's question and then looked away to try and hide her blush. Ash smiled at Sneasel and scratched behind her ear making Sneasel look back at Ash and sigh in content.

"Looking at what you already know I think you should work with Brick Break, maybe you could work with Raichu when he starts practicing Brick Break."

Sneasel shot up and ran over to and area near Raichu so she could practice with him when he was done with Psychic. The Ice type left Raichu to his training and started attempting Brick Break on the nearby boulders. As his Pokémon trained Ash sat down with Ralts and Eevee content to sit there with them and watch his Pokémon train.

* * *

When it was around midday Ash started making lunch. He had been impressed at the improvement several of them had made over the past few hours. Ash saw Mudkip come and lay down next to him looking exhausted which considering the intensity Mudkip had been working out was no surprise. He took the rock off his tail-fin and Mudkip instantly relaxed.

Suddenly Ash and his Pokémon heard a scream come from the east, on instinct Ash returned his Pokémon and started sprinting to where it had come from hoping to help whoever was in trouble. In a few moments Ash had passed through the thick forest and found two men in red uniforms. The men had evil grins on their faces and were trapping a girl who was probably only eleven or twelve years old against a tree. The girl had long black hair which was tied into pigtails and her eyes were ice blue. She was wearing a white shirt, a dark blue jacket, blue jeans and a pair of running shoes. Both of the men were closing in one her, she slid down the tree and started sobbing and shaking violently.

"Leave her alone you scum." Ash yelled at the pair.

The men turned around to see who had interrupted them and snorted as they saw a mere child glaring at them.

"Get out of here kid, we haven't got the time to waste on a weakling like you."

"Yeah nice try kid but you're not going to intimidate us. We are members of Team Magma and we won't be scared by a kid. Now this is your last warning leave now or else."

Ash knew that unlike Team Rocket these guys were no joke they were truly evil he could tell by the look in their eyes. They both saw that Ash was not leaving so they both threw a poke ball revealing a Magcargo and a Numel, both of whom wore sinister grins just like their masters. One of the men then spotted the shiny Eevee in Ash's arms.

"Hey kid I've got a deal for you, you give us that Eevee and you and the girl can go."

Ash instinctively tightened his grip on Eevee and Ralts and pulled two Pokéballs off his belt.

"Hell no. Nincada and Pidgeot to the battlefield."

The pair appeared in a flash of light and looked at their opponents who still had the same sinister look on their faces. Ash once again handed the young Pokémon to Raichu who placed them on the ground and stood in front of them his cheeks sparking. Meowth also stood in front of the children extending his claws. Both Pokemon intent to protect the young ones should the need arise.

"Magcargo burn that pathetic bug with Flamethrower."

"Numel scorch the bird with Flamethrower."

"Pidgeot strafe left and use Aerial Ace and Nincada use Dig then X-Scissor."

Magcargo shot out an intense blast of fire at Nincada who quickly dug underground making the flames harmlessly pass over the hole he had created. Meanwhile Numel like Magcargo had shot a burst of flames at Pidgeot who like Nincada easily dodged the attack and then shot towards the camel. She slammed into him and sent him flying back, Nincada then burst out of the ground with his forearms crossed in front of him and he slashed Magcargo which sent him crashing to the ground next to Numel. Both got back up although Magcargo was bent over and panting while Numel's legs on his right side were shaking. The members of Team Magma growled angrily as they saw their Pokemon losing to some random kid..

"Magcargo use Flame Charge on that worthless bug."

"Pidgeot intercept with Quick Attack. Nincada X-Scissor on Slugma."

"Numel go for another Flamethrower."

The snail like Pokemon was surrounded in flames and then charged straight at Nincada who was still falling to the ground after his previous attack. When he was in range Magcargo leapt forward to ram into the bug however instead of hitting Nincada he was matched by Pidgeot who was matching Magcargo's power and was threatenting to push him back. The two remained deadlocked until Pidgeot was hit by a burst of flames, which provided enough of a distraction for Magcargo to overpower Pidgeot ram her into a tree making the bird wheeze as she was winded by the attack. Before the snail could press the advantage Pidgeot quickly put some distance between her and Magcargo so she could recover.

Meanwhile having been forgotten by their opponents Nincada saw his chance and ran forward hitting Magcargo with another X-Scissor making the snail stagger back and look worriedly at the giant crack Nincada had made in his hard shell. Nincada and Pidgeot were now back in front of Ash and were pretty much fully fit which was a complete contrast to Magcargo and Numel who were now struggling to stay upright, the giant crack created by Nincada's X-Scissor was seriously limiting Magcargo's movement and Numel's right legs were now in an even worse state than it had been after his collision with the ground. Ash smirked as he knew that he had this battle won, it was just a case of finishing them off and Ash had a great way to do it.

"It's over for you both now, Nincada jump on Pidgeot's back."

Nincada sent a confused look at Ash wondering what that would achieve since he had no long range attacks but quickly accepted that his trainer had a plan so he did as he was told. The second he was on her back Pidgeot ascended back into the sky going quite high which was unnerving Nincada who had always preferred to have his feet firmly on the ground.

"Now Pidgeot throw Nincada at Magcargo and speed him up with Gust. Nincada use X-Scissor on Magcargo once you're in range."

The bug's eyes widened clearly not liking this plan, it was bad enough being in the air but now he was being fired at their enemies like a missile. Despite him wanting to protest this he had no chance to argue as he was thrown off of Pidgeot's back immediately and could feel the wind behind him accelerating him. Since there was no way of stopping what was happening he decided to just go with it and crossed his front forelegs in front of him. His claws slammed into Magcargo seconds later and due to the immense speed Nincada was going, Magcargo was sent careening back into Numel sending them both sprawling.

"Now Pidgeot finish it with Brave Bird."

Pidgeot tucked her wings in and flew at the prone Pokémon who had no chance to escape their fate and Pidgeot slammed into them, knocking them both out. The members of Team Magma quickly returned their defeated Pokémon and started running hoping they'd escape but there was no way Ash was gonna let them get away.

"Oh no you don't, Raichu use Thunder Wave."

Raichu shot some electricity at the fleeing men and it made them both collapse to the ground unable to move a muscle. Now that they had been stopped Ash walked over to the girl who was still shaking on the ground and was clearly not aware of what had happened. Ash placed his hand gently on her shoulder hoping it wouldn't frighten her any more.

"Hey, you can calm down now, you're safe now that I've beaten them. You're going to be fine."

The girl snapped of the trance she'd been in and looked up at him with tear filled eyes which were now red from her sobbing. She lunged forward and wrapped her arms around Ash while crying into his shirt. Ash held her tightly and rubbed her back trying to sooth her as she cried, eventually she calmed down enough to talk coherently.

"T-t-t-hank you s-s-so much for s-saving me. If you hadn't have c-c-come along I don't know what they'd have done."

"It's no problem. Hey Pidgeot can you go back to Nikita Town and get Officer Jenny for me?"

Pidgeot nodded and launched herself into the sky headed straight back towards the town. When she was out of sight Ash looked back to the girl he'd saved she was still letting out a few whimpers but her shaking had stopped.

"Hey what's your name?"

"My name is Vanya. What is yours?"

"I'm Ash. Are you okay? They didn't hurt you did they?"

"No I'm fine thanks to you. My Pokémon on the other hand are hurt. We were training and when they were tired those men attacked. My Pokémon hadn't had a chance to recover so they were quickly beaten."

"Don't worry about that. If you want you can come with me to my camp and I'll see if I can heal them up."

A small smile was now on her face and she wiped away the tears in her eyes.

"Thank you that would be great."

"No problem." Ash replied with a smile.

Officer Jenny arrived not long after on her bike, she handcuffed the two men, thanked Ash for his help and then sped off before Ash could reply. After the men had been taken away, Vanya picked up her back pack and Ash returned his Pokémon. He picked up Eevee and Ralts and led Vanya back to his camp. He was shocked to find that it was exactly how he had left it, which considering he had been in the process of making lunch was amazing. He had honestly been expecting to see the food to be gone and the camp to be a mess. Before continuing lunch Ash decided to take a look at Vanya's Pokémon and see how they were. Upon checking them he found a couple had some minor wounds that needed healing but other than that they were just suffering from exhaustion which a good nights sleep would cure.

Ash and Vanya spent the rest of the day talking about their experiences as trainers. Shortly after the evening meal Ash saw that Vanya had fallen asleep, but considering what had happened today it was hardly surprising. He very gently picked her up and placed her in his sleeping bag. After making sure she was comfortable he went and sat in the shade of a tree with Eevee and Ralts. As he sat there he felt something hit him on the back of the head and when he turned around he saw that it was Nincada who began talking very quickly and from the tone very angrily. Ash looked at Meowth who was listening intently and even started chuckling as the bug ranted on.

"What's Nincada saying?"

"Well let's just say dat he's pissed at dat last move you pulled."

"Sorry Nincada."

Nincada waved a forearm at him and lied down near Ash in the shade. Ash looked around and everyone was relaxing in the lake or lying in the shade, while it was a shame that their training had to be cut short he knew that training could postponed for a day and he wanted Vanya to get some rest as she needed it. He looked down and saw that Eevee and Ralts had now fallen asleepin his arms. The sight made him smile and he closed his eyes joining them in slumber.

* * *

Next morning Vanya's eyes fluttered open, she looked up at the sky and could tell that it was early, much earlier than she usually awoke. As she sat up she realised now that she was in a sleeping bag and knew that Ash must have put her in it some time last night. She looked around the area they were in and saw Ash training with his Pokémon. He was doing push ups and his Eevee and Ralts were sat on his back making both of them giggle. She stretched her arms out and got out of the sleeping bag, after quickly checking her Pokemon she walked over to Ash who saw the younger girl out the corner of his eye.

"Ah good morning Vanya. You're up early, did you sleep well?"

"Yeah I did thanks."

Ash did a couple more push ups and then stopped, Eevee and Ralts jumped off his back and when Ash went into a sitting position the young Pokémon then leapt into his lap and nuzzled him. Vanya looked at the two young Pokémon sat in Ash's lap and smiled softly at the young Pokemon.

"Those two are very affectionate towards you."

Ash started scratching behind Eevee's ears with one hand while he gently stroked Ralts' hair with the other, both Pokemon sighing as they enjoyed the attention.

"Yeah well I hatched Eevee so I guess I'm a father to her and I saved Ralts' life a couple of days ago so I guess she's just really grateful."

Ash suddenly felt Ralts tug on his shirt, he looked down and saw her shake her head confusing the young trainers. She then started pointing from herself to Eevee and then to Ash. Vanya was still confused at the young Pokémon's actions however Ash had a pretty good feeling that he knew what she meant. Vanya looked quizzically at Ash wondering if he had somehow understood what the Ralts was saying.

"What is she saying?"

"I think she's saying that she sees me as a father too."

Ralts nodded in response and went back to nuzzling her father with her sister.

"So you're a parent of two?"

A disgruntled cry came from Phanpy in the distance, they looked at Phanpy who was pouting and stamped his front feet on the ground shaking it. Ash chuckled at Phanpy's reaction.

"Actually it's three, yes Phanpy I know I'm your father too."

Phanpy instantly perked up and cried out happily stamping his feet again before going back to practising Hidden Power. Vanya giggled at the interaction between Ash and his Pokémon, she thought it was very sweet seeing someone who had such a close bond to his Pokémon. She was broken out of her thought when she saw Ash start talking again.

"So I was thinking I'd get you to Nikita Town today so you can meet up with your brother. I'm sure he'll be worried about you."

"Yes Thalion will be, he is a bit overprotective of me."

"Well he is your older brother so it's not surprising. Right I'll go get breakfast sorted and then we can get going."

* * *

After breakfast Ash and Vanya returned their Pokémon and began walking back to Nikita Town. When they got back to the town they headed straight for the Pokémon centre thinking it would be the best place to start searching for Thalion. When they entered a man quickly ran up to Vanya and pulled her into a bone crushing hug which she returned.

"Vanya there you are I've been so worried about you."

The boy who Ash now assumed to be Thalion had long Blonde hair which was tied into a pony tail, his eyes like his sister's were ice blue, he wore a blue shirt, a black jacket and blue jeans he also wore running shoes, a black bandana with a poke ball on it and had black fingerless gloves. He was about the same height as Ash which meant that Thalion was probably about the same age as him.

"It's good to see you too big brother, but can you please let me go before I suffocate."

Thalion reluctantly released his little sister from the embrace although he still kept an arm wrapped her shoulder. Seeing the siblings interact Ash decided it was probably best if he left them alone for the time being, it was pretty clear that they were extremely close and would likely want some privacy. Ash turned away from the siblings and walked towards the sliding doors of the Pokemon Centre. As he was about to leave he felt a hand grab his and pull him back. He turned around and saw Vanya looking up at him with her ice blue eyes.

"Ash where are you going?"

"Well I was just going to give you both some alone time."

"Don't be silly Ash, now come I want you to meet my brother."

Before Ash could challenge Vanya's decision she had tightened her hold on his arm and started yanking on Ash's arm trying to practically drag Ash over to her brother. Seeing that there was no point resisting Ash shrugged and allowed himself to be dragged and was brought face to face with Thalion. The two stared each other down for a moment and then shook hands.

"Ash this is my brother Thalion. Thalion this is my friend Ash."

"It's good to meet you Ash."

"You too Thalion, Vanya has told me a lot about you."

"Nothing bad I hope, so how do you know Vanya?"

"Well..."

With that Ash and Vanya led Thalion to a nearby table and told him their story, everything from when the men first attacked Vanya to Ash coming and saving her. Ash looked into Thalion's eyes and saw several emotions pass through them; relief, gratitude, fear and strangely Ash thought he saw a bit of guilt which confused him. When they had finished telling Thalion what had happened he wrapped his sister in another hug, after a while he released her and looked at Ash gratefully.

"Thanks for rescuing my sister. She means the world to me I don't know what I would have had something happened to her."

Ash noticed that it was there once again, that look of guilt in Thalion's eyes. After a moments thought on the matter Ash guessed that Thalion blamed himself for not being there to protect his sister. Ash chuckled at the thought as he knew that's exactly how he'd have felt.

"It's no problem I'm just glad I got there in time to help."

"So are you competing in the tournament Ash?" Vanya asked clearly wanting to change the subject.

"Yeah I am. Are you two?"

"Yep we both are."

"Well hopefully we'll get to battle."

As much as Ash had enjoyed the company of the siblings he knew that he needed to get back to training. He'd lost a lot of time due to various interruptions since he'd got to Hoenn and it would take a lot of work to catch up on all that lost time.

"Well guys I need to get going. I need to get some more training done for the tournament."

"Yeah we need to do the same. Thanks again Ash for saving my sister."

"It's no problem. I'll see you both at the tournament."

Ash and Thalion shook hands once again and Vanya hugged Ash tightly once again. The trio then left the Pokémon Centre and went their separate ways to train for the tournament. The thought of battling the siblings he'd just met excited Ash especially the thought of battling Thalion as he could tell by the way Thalion carried himself that he'd be a challenge.

* * *

Notes

Please give a review telling me what you liked/didn't like.

If you have any questions I am more than happy to answer them.

Ash:

On Hand - Raichu, Meowth, Mudkip, Totodile, Cyndaquil, Phanpy, Pidgeot, Sneasel, Nincada, Eevee (Shiny) & Ralts

Kanto – Raichu, Meowth, Ivysaur, Wartortle, Charizard, Pidgeot, Kingler, Muk, Tauros(x29), Snorlax & Eevee (Shiny)

Johto – Totodile, Bayleaf, Cyndaquil, Heracross, Noctowl (Shiny), Phanpy & Sneasel

Hoenn – Mudkip, Nincada & Ralts


	6. Nikita Town Tournament - Ash vs Vanya

Thanks for the reviews guys I really appreciate you taking the time to write one.

Here's chapter 6 I hope you enjoy.

In conversations:

'- Translation of Poké Speech – No human unless otherwise stated can understand it.

"- Human speech

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon.

* * *

Ash quickly walked back to the clearing and sent everyone out. Ash had spent so long talking with Vanya and Thalion that by the time he got back to the clearing it was time for dinner. Since it would soon be dark Ash told everyone to relax and they would start training tomorrow morning. His Pokémon seemed happy with that and all settled down waiting for Ash to make their evening meals. They didn't have to wait long an dafter they all scoffed their food they settled down to get rested for the training tomorrow.

The next morning Ash woke up knowing that they would have to get some serious training done. They had missed out on a lot of training due to various interruptions and they really needed to make up for the lost time. When they finished their breakfasts the Pokémon looked at Ash waiting for him to tell them what they were doing today.

"All right guys we look to have some serious competition. Both Vanya and her brother Thalion are going to be a challenge. So I want you all to continue the training you had been doing before we met Vanya."

Ash watched as his Pokémon ran off to various areas to continue training, he saw how easily Mudkip was moving with the rock attached to his tail-fin and knew that he was ready to start learning Iron Tail which hopefully Raichu would help him master. Ash turned his attention to his other Pokémon Cyndaquil, Phanpy and Nincada were still working on Hidden Power. Nincada had learned pretty quickly from the others and was now working on his accuracy like they were. Although to say his control was erratic would be an understatement but in time it would be just as Cyndaquil or Phanpy's. He then saw Totodile who was happily dancing. Ash smiled knowing that Totodile must have perfected Hydro Pump at last.

Totodile was ecstatic that he had just gotten Hydro Pump down, he knew when he used it against that guy on the boat that he needed to work on it and he was delighted that he had perfected it. Ash walked over to the him applauding him.

"Great job Totodile. Listen I'm working on a new move for you so in the meantime can you try charging Ice Punch into both arms?"

Totodile nodded and started encasing both his arms in ice. Ash finally looked at Pidgeot who was pummelling a rock and causing quite a bit of damage. Ash felt a bit smug knowing that his theory had been right. After all if a Staraptor could use Close Combat then there was no reason why Pidgeot couldn't do the same.

"Way to go Pidgeot. I knew you could do it."

She cried out happily and wrapped a wing around Ash as she nuzzled him. He laughed as her feathers tickled him and he stroked her crest. He then heard a couple of voices below him. He looked down and saw two pouting young Pokémon Pidgeot released him and Ash picked them up and gave them a tight squeeze. They smiled and nestled their heads into his shirt. Ash left Pidgeot who had started striking the boulder again and called out.

"Hey Raichu, Mudkip and Totodile can you come here please."

Although Ash knew he had told Totodile to work on Ice Punch he wanted Mudkip to learn Iron Tail and having Totodile help Raichu train him he'd have no trouble learning it. They stood in front of Ash and he took the rock off of Mudkip's tail-fin.

"It's time for you to start learning Iron Tail Mudkip. I really am proud of you as you have worked so hard in these past few days. Totodile, Raichu would you mind helping him out?"

Both nodded and led Mudkip away from the main group and began demonstrating the move. Ash laughed at the look of horror on Mudkip's face when Raichu launched a powerful Thunderbolt at Totodile. He laughed even harder at the shocked look he pulled when Totodile came out unscathed.

The training followed the same pattern for the next two days. Once Mudkip had started using Iron Tail Raichu and Totodile left him to it and began training together with Sneasel and the trio all started exchanging attacks. As he watched his Pokémon train Ash was feeling a little guilty. He hadn't had the time to do some training with his Pokémon on a one to one basis as he had done back in Pallet Town. But Eevee and Ralts needed his attention so he had spent most of his time with them. When they were a bit older he would be able to take the time to help every one of his Pokémon individually.

Time flew by and before any of them knew it they had been training for four days. With the tournament starting tomorrow Ash had his Pokémon do some last minute training before lunch. He'd been surprised how well his new Pokémon had done Mudkip learned Iron Tail in no time and Nincada had learned how to use Hidden Power although his control of the move wasn't great. Ash looked at the time and saw that it was about lunch time so he started making their meals. The smell of the food made his Pokémon stop battling and they ran over to Ash. He looked at his Pokémon and chuckled as he saw their mouths watering. He put the finishing touches on the meal and said.

"Alright guys it's time for lunch."

They quickly snatched their food away and started scoffing it. After lunch Ash packed up camp and walked back to Nikita Town so he could get a room in the Pokémon Centre and rest up for the tournament. He got back to Nikita Town in time for the evening meal in the Pokémon Centre's cafeteria. After filling his stomach he walked to the main desk and asked Nurse Joy for a room. He was lucky as there were only a few rooms left due to people being here for the tournament. He took the key from Nurse Joy and went to his room. After letting all of Pokémon out they all fell to sleep.

* * *

Ash woke up early the next morning. The anticipation of today's tournament making him wake up earlier than usual. He couldn't wait to battle Thalion and Vanya as he had been looking for a challenge ever since he had started his training back in Pallet Town and hopefully they would give him that challenge. Ash looked at the clock on the bedside table and saw that it was only 5:30. He did think about trying to get back to sleep but he knew it was pointless. He was far to excited to sleep. So he just started his daily routine instead which began with his physical training. He made sure to keep quiet so he wouldn't wake up his Pokémon, they needed all the rest they could get for the tournament today.

Ash finished his exercises and looked at the clock again. He was annoyed to find that only 45 minutes had passed which meant he still had over an hour to kill. He went to the bathroom and then got dressed but still had over an hour to kill. Since he had nothing else to do Ash got his Pokédex and started looking through his it for potential moves to teach his Pokémon in the future. As he looked through the lists he felt something rub against his leg. He looked down and to his surprise saw that Eevee had woken up. Ash leant down and picked her up placing her in his lap. Eevee looked at the strange object in Ash's hand wondering what it was. He smiled as he saw the confused look on her face.

"This is a Pokédex it tells me things like what moves you can learn."

Eevee nodded, she was interested to see that she was the Pokémon displayed at the minute.

"I was just looking at future moves to teach you when you're ready. But don't worry you are not going to be battling for a long while."

Eevee was more than happy with that for now and nuzzled Ash who hugged her in return. Eevee then accidentally hit a button on the Pokédex and the picture changed to show the eight Eeveelutions, she looked at them curiously wondering what they were.

"These are the various Pokémon you can evolve into. Always remember that you don't have to evolve if you don't want to. If you wanted to stay as an Eevee I wouldn't mind at all. The only thing that matters to me is that you're happy."

Eevee nodded again.

"One thing you should also know is that you're colours would be different to them. You see you are a very special Eevee. You are what we call a shiny Pokémon which means you are a different colours to most of your kind. Let me see if can get the shiny version of your evolutions on the screen."

Ash pressed a few buttons and managed to get the shiny version of them on the screen and selected Jolteon first.

"How about I go through all of them and you can choose which ones you like? Like I said before if you don't like any of them you don't have to evolve."

Eevee nodded and Ash began telling her about every one of the Eeveelutions as their image appeared on the screen. As he shifted through them she shook her head at Jolteon, Flareon, Vaporeon and Espeon. She nodded her head at Umbreon which he found surprising seeing as usually female Eevee's tend to gravitate more towards Espeon than Umbreon. He then flicked to Leafeon and Sylveon which from Eevee's reaction were the most disliked so far. Ash finally got to the Ice type Glaceon, when she saw what she would look like as a Glaceon Eevee started yipping and nodding.

"So you like Glaceon the most. Well when you start training we can start preparing you to evolve into Glaceon."

Eevee nuzzled Ash again, as he held her tightly Ash wasn't sure how they were going to do that. From what he knew from his time spent with Professor Oak there were only a few known places that evolving into Glaceon would be possible. Sadly to his knowledge none of those places were in Hoenn. The only thing Ash could so would be to talk to Professor Oak about this. If anyone could think of a way to achieve this it would be him. He heard a soft snoring below him, when he looked down he saw that Eevee had fallen back to sleep. Ash smiled smiled at the adorable sight and gently stroked her fur.

Ash didn't know how long he had sat there with Eevee in his lap. When he finally looked at the clock and saw that he had lost track of time as it was now 8:15. He cursed himself for not paying attention to the time, he quickly woke all his Pokémon up and got them ready for the battles they would be having later. He looked through his pack and saw that he'd need to restock after the tournament which wasn't a problem as he had a lot of money that he hadn't known about that he had earned during his journeys through Kanto, the Orange Archipelago and Johto.

When everyone had eaten their breakfast Ash returned them and walked out of the Pokémon Centre towards the stadium. He had chosen to keep Eevee out today as with Raichu and Meowth here he would have no problem keeping her safe and after seeing the heartbroken look she had on her face yesterday when he had hidden her he knew he couldn't do that to her again. As he walked to the stadium Ash knew that he'd be incredibly early but he didn't mind waiting. His mother had always told him it's better to be an hour early than a minute late.

After a short walk to the stadium Ash leaned against a wall and began talking with his Pokémon. Meowth joining him had been one of the best things that had happened as due to him being able to translate for him Ash was able to have much more in-depth conversations with his Pokémon. After an hour or so Ash saw Vanya and Thalion approaching and ended the conversation with his Pokémon.

"Hey guys."

"Hey Ash. You ready to battle." Thalion replied.

"Yeah I am. You guys better not lose until I get to battle you."

"The same to you Ash."

The trio talked for a while to pass the time. As it got closer to ten o'clock more and more people were gathering outside the stadium. Then at the stroke of ten o'clock the doors were opened and the competitors walked into the stadium. Ash looked to the stands and was surprised how many people had turned out to watch what was a relatively small competition which consisted of in general novice trainers. Ash turned his attention back to the stage when he saw a man approach the microphone.

"Attention everyone. Before we start the tournament there are a few rules that must be explained. First thing you all have to do is send out the four Pokémon you will use for this tournament so your opponents can see them."

Ash took Sneasel, Cyndaquil and Mudkip's Pokéballs off his belt and sent them out, Raichu then landed on the ground and stood alongside the trio. Ash looked around at his competitors and was generally disappointed with what he saw it was mostly starters, Wurmple's, Zigzagoon's, Poochyena's and the odd Lotad the only exceptions being Thalion and Vanya who like Ash had more unusual Pokémon. They heard the man say a few more basic rules for the new trainers which Ash tuned out as he had heard it all before several times. Once he was done explaining the rules the man looked at a board to his right.

"Here is the board that tells you who you will be battling."

The trio looked at the board and saw that Thalion was on one side of the table and Ash and Vanya were on the other side so Ash would battle Vanya and then the winner would face Thalion. They were disappointed that there were no other trainers that would provide them with a challenge as beating beginners would not offer any worthwhile training for their Pokémon.

* * *

Ash's battle was first he took his place and and looked at his opponent who looked terrified. He was obviously a new trainer who knew he didn't stand a chance. Ash felt kind of bad that he had to do this, but he wanted to battle Thalion and Vanya as soon as possible so he had to finish this quick. A few minutes and four easy knock out's later Ash looked at his opponent who looked crushed reminding him of how he had reacted to defeats during his time travelling around Kanto. Ash was going to go and talk to the boy but he ran out of the stadium before he got the chance.

After Ash's battle Thalion and Vanya beat their opponents just as easily which was to the surprise of no one. After watching each other battle Ash and Thalion couldn't wait to eventually have their battle although Ash knew he had to take Vanya seriously if he was going to get to battle her brother in the final. Ash, Thalion and Vanya swept through their next opponents just as easily as the first which left Thalion against another beginner trainer who he obliterated and Ash against Vanya.

"This battle is between Vanya Taylor and Ash Ketchum. The winner of this match will face Thalion Taylor in the final. Trainers choose your Pokémon."

"Ok Sneasel, Mudkip take to the battlefield."

The pair walked forward looking focused, they'd been waiting all day for a proper battle and now they were going to get one.

"Skitty, Marill you're up first."

They walked forward with the same look of determination.

"Marill use Water Gun and Skitty hit Sneasel with Doubleslap."

"Mudkip counter with your Water Gun, Sneasel grab Skitty's tail at the last minute and throw her then use Ice Beam."

Marill shot a blast of water at Sneasel but Mudkip jumped in front of her and used his own Water Gun. The jets of water collided and neither Pokémon was able to gain an advantage. Meanwhile Skitty ran at Sneasel with her tail glowing as Sneasel stood still waiting for her moment to attack. Skitty swung her tail at Sneasel's body but the Sneasel was too fast and grabbed her tail before it made contact. Before Skitty had time to recover from her shock she was thrown and went skidding along the ground. Sneasel then formed a pale blue orb in her hands and fired a beam of ice at Skitty who got to her feet in time for the beam to hit her and send her crashing into the stadium wall.

"Mudkip charge through the water and use Iron Tail."

Mudkip kept firing his Water Gun to match Marill's but was gradually moving forward, pushing back Murill's Water Gun. When he got close enough to the Aqua Mouse he did as Raichu had shown him and leapt in the air and his tail-fin became metallic. Marill saw the move and immediately stopped firing his Water Gun, he turned his gaze to the rapidly approaching Mudkip waiting for instructions.

"Marill Headbutt."

Marill used his tail as a springboard and shot himself into the air straight at Mudkip who was descending towards him with his tail-fin aimed at him. The attacks collided and Marill's Headbutt easily beat back the Iron Tail and sent Mudkip flying through the air, the Hoenn started cried out as he crashed down next to Ash. Marill on the other hand managed to land on his feet however he quickly put an arm to his head showing that Iron Tail had done some damage to him.

"Sneasel Quick Attack to get close then Iron Tail."

"Skitty Assist."

Sneasel shot off at incredible speed at Skitty, as the ice type charged at Skitty a white orb appeared on Skitty's front paw and a horde of razor-sharp leaves were shot from it. Sneasel used her quickness to duck and weave her way through the leaves although a few did connect making a few small cuts. Sneasel ran past the last few leaves and sliced a few in half as she appeared in front of a stunned Skitty.

Sneasel's tail then turned metallic and she slammed it down on Skitty's head which made the cat cry out in pain and forcing her to back away. Once she was a safe distance from her attacker Skitty lied down while rubbing her head trying to soothe the pain now shooting through her. Ash looked at Skitty who had managed to get back to her feet but was clearly struggling to stand and he was certain he could get rid of Skitty now but it may mean that Mudkip will take a bad hit.

"Mudkip hit Skitty with Water Gun and Sneasel Dig then Night Slash."

"Skitty dodge the Water Gun, Marill use Rollout on Mudkip."

Sneasel dug underground and Mudkip shot a jet of water at Skitty, the cat saw the attack coming and leapt to her right easily dodging the water. Marill then rolled into a ball and slammed into Mudkip sending him crashing back towards Ash again. Sneasel then burst out of the ground and her claws turned pitch black and slashed down Skitty's right side. The attack created a gash and she collapsed from the pain and was in no way able to keep battling.

"Skitty is unable to battle, choose your next Pokémon."

Vanya returned Skitty sad that she'd fallen for an obvious ruse, she silently promised to avenge her.

"Combusken it's your turn."

The fire type walked on to the battlefield and Ash knew he had to get Sneasel off the battlefield as she was very vulnerable to attacks from Combusken. All keeping her out would result in her being knocked out.

"Sneasel I'm switching you, Cyndaquil take to the battlefield."

The Pokemon swapped places as instructed, Sneasel was disappointed at being switched but could understand the logic as there was very little she could do against either of Vanya's Pokémon. Mudkip had gotten back up and looked ready to continue, Ash considered recalling him too but he could see that even though Mudkip was injured their was a lot of determination in his eyes which made Ash decide against returning him.

"Cyndaquil stop Marill with Flame Wheel and Mudkip use Water Gun."

"Combusken jump and hit Mudkip with Brick Break then Blaze Kick."

Cyndaquil rolled into a ball and became engulfed in flames, he then charged full speed at Marill and despite being at a type disadvantage he pushed Marill back and forced him to break away and jump back near Vanya. Meanwhile Mudkip shot another stream of water at Combusken who easily jumped over it, her hand glowed and she slammed it down on Mudkip's head making him cry out. Her leg then became engulfed in flames and she kicked Mudkip sending him into the air and making him crash to the ground again.

"Combusken Double Kick."

"Intercept with Flame Wheel."

"Marill use Rollout again."

Combusken began running at Mudkip who hadn't managed to get back to his feet. Cyndaquil rolled into a ball again and went to block Combusken's attack but Marill blocked him off. Like before Marill was overpowered but he had prevented Cyndaquil from stopping Combusken who hit Mudkip with the kicks and sent him skidding along the ground coming to a stop in front of Ash clearly unable to continue.

"Mudkip is unable to battle, choose your next Pokémon."

Ash returned Mudkip and thanked him for his efforts, he looked to his best friend as he knew sending Sneasel back out would be suicide. Raichu saw the look and walked on to the battlefield, this would be his first real battle since he evolved and he was excited to see how much he had improved.

"Raichu Volt Tackle, Cyndaquil block Combusken with Quick Attack then use Swift."

"Marill Rollout to get away and Combusken use Brick Break."

Raichu became surrounded in electricity and charged at Marill while Cyndaquil shot ahead of him straight at Combusken who's hand glowed again and the two attacks clashed which knocked them both back. Cyndaquil quickly recovered and shot a horde of stars at Combusken which created several cuts on her body. Meanwhile Marill had rolled into a ball but was far to slow and Raichu slammed into him and knocked him out immediately.

"Marill is unable to battle send out your last Pokémon."

The Roselia next to Vanya walked on to the battlefield looking cocky.

"Stun Spore."

"Cyndaquil Counter Shield."

Roselia released an orange powder from the flowers on her hands at Cyndaquil and Raichu hoping to paralyze them. As the powder got close Cyndaquil got on his back and started spinning while using Flamethrower creating a vortex that burnt the spores which nullified the attack. Ash smirked at the astonished expressions on many people's faces especially Vanya's.

"Roselia use Toxic."

Cyndaquil had only just stopped spinning and Ash knew he wouldn't have the time to dodge the poison so Ash hoped what he did against Team Rocket would work here.

"Raichu use Thundershock to stop it."

Ash chose Thundershock as due to Cyndaquil's proximity to the poison a big explosion would catch him in the blast which would be just as bad if not even worse than him being hit by the poison.

"Combusken counter with Flamethrower."

Roselia fired some poisoned liquid from her flowers at Cyndaquil who was still recovering from using the Counter Shield technique. Raichu quickly fired off a Thundershock to defend Cynaquil from the poison but it was intercepted by Combusken's Flamethrower making the two attacks cancel each other out, this allowed the Toxic to drench Cyndaquil who cried out as the poison flooded his system. He got to his feet but the poison was clearly having a bad effect on him and he coughed up some purple ooze.

"Cyndaquil are you okay to continue?"

Cyndaquil nodded although Ash could tell he was putting on a strong front, but if he wanted to keep going then Ash would have faith in him.

"Flame Wheel and try to keep it up until Roselia faints."

"Stop him with Sludge Bomb."

Cyndaquil rolled into a ball again and was engulfed in flames he charged at Roselia who fired a Sludge Bomb at him but he easily dodged it, he then slammed into her making her let out a small scream as the flames scorched her body and she staggered back but stayed on her feet. Cyndaquil then hit her left flank and she fired another Sludge Bomb in that direction, but again she missed, Cyndaquil was just moving to fast for her and not long after she ran out of strength and she collapsed unable to continue. Cyndaquil stopped rolling and stifled a yelp as the toxic in his system caused him more pain and nearly made him collapse.

"Roselia is unable to battle."

"Cyndaquil come back you don't need to take any unnecessary damage from the poison. Raichu can do this on his own."

He nodded and slowly walked back to Ash happy that he could rest, this left Raichu and Combusken on the battlefield. Sneasel was about to join the battle but Raichu glanced at her and shook his head at her, Sneasel simply nodded in response as she knew that look meant he wanted to fight on his own.

"Raichu Thunderbolt."

"Flamethrower."

Raichu fired a bolt of electricity and Combusken shot a burst of flames, the burst of blames and the bolt of electricity clashed and created an explosion which shrouded the battlefield in smoke. The smoke quickly cleared showing Raichu surfing comfortably on his tail while Combusken fell to one knee as she was exhausted.

"Iron Tail."

Combusken looked up and saw Raichu surfing on his tail straight towards her, when he was close he leapt off his tail and slammed his now metallic tail on her skull making her fall face first to the ground, Raichu hopped back on his his tail and surfed back towards Ash assuming that the battle was over but he suddenly felt extreme heat radiating from behind him. He looked back at Combusken who was pushing herself up and flames engulfed her showing that her Blaze ability had been activated.

"Combusken Blaze Kick."

"Counter it with Thunder Punch."

Combusken charged at Raichu and launched a kick at him however the fatigue she was feeling and the quick reflexes of Raichu made her miss, she was then launched into the air by an electric infused uppercut. Combusken crashed to the ground but to everyone's surprise she somehow managed to get to her feet. Ash admired the determination she was showing but it time to end this.

"Now grab Combusken's leg and throw her."

This was something Ash had been training Raichu to do as due to his now elongated tail Raichu was able to do a lot more with his tail than he could do as a Pikachu. He wrapped his tail around Combusken's leg who was too tired to try to counter the move and Raichu span her round, when he gained enough momentum he let go of her leg and she slammed straight into the wall which finally knocked her out.

"Combusken is unable to battle, Ash Ketchum advances to the final and will battle Thalion Taylor."

Ash and Vanya walked across the battlefield and thanked each other for a great battle, she gave Ash a hug and walked back to Thalion. Ash and Thalion met each other's gaze and smirked both looking forward to a great battle.

* * *

Notes

Please give a review telling me what you liked/didn't like.

If you have any questions I am more than happy to answer them.

Ash:

On Hand - Raichu (Alolan), Meowth, Mudkip, Totodile, Cyndaquil, Phanpy, Pidgeot, Sneasel, Nincada, Eevee (Shiny) & Ralts

Kanto – Raichu, Meowth, Ivysaur, Wartortle, Charizard, Pidgeot, Kingler, Muk, Tauros(x29), Snorlax & Eevee (Shiny)

Johto – Totodile, Bayleaf, Cyndaquil, Heracross, Noctowl (Shiny), Phanpy & Sneasel

Hoenn – Mudkip, Nincada & Ralts


	7. Nikita Town Tournament - Ash vs Thalion

nnThanks for the reviews guys I really appreciate you taking the time to write one.

I'm really sorry it has taken so long to update but I have been focussing on The Return Of The Betrayed Guardian.

Here's chapter 7 I hope you enjoy.

In conversations:

'- Translation of Poké Speech – No human unless otherwise stated can understand it.

"- Human speech

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon.

* * *

After the battle with Vanya there was a break while Ash's Pokémon were healed, this gave him time to think about his upcoming match against Thalion. The battle hadn't even started and Thalion had already gotten the advantage as he had seen Ash use some of his strategies against Vanya. Thalion on the other hand hadn't had to use any of his against the inexperienced trainers he'd battled. Ash sighed and then spotted Nurse Joy returning with his Pokémon, the nurse smiled at him and gave the four Pokemon back. Now that his team had been healed they could start the final, Ash and Thalion took their places on the battlefield excited to battle a strong opponent.

"This is the Final of the Nikita Town tournament, the same rules from previous rounds apply. Trainers, choose your Pokémon."

"Baltoy, Seviper you're up." Thalion declared.

"Mudkip, Cyndaquil to the battlefield." Ash said.

The Pokémon all confidently walked on to the battlefield, the quartet met in the middle of the battlefield and there was a brief stare down between the Pokemon. Cynaquil was the first to end the stare down by shaking one of Baltoy's limbs. The other three Pokemon follow suit and afterwards returned to their positions in front of their trainers.

"Alright Seviper use Poison Tail and Baltoy use Psybeam."

"Mudkip counter Seviper with Iron Tail and Cyndaquil charge through the Psybeam with Flame Charge."

In the blink of an eye Baltoy fired a ray of light at Cyndaquil, the Fire type was ready to respond as he was already engulfed in flames and immediately charged straight through the peculiar light. Watching its attack do next to nothing shocked Baltoy and it found itself rooted to the spot as Cyndaquil rammed into Baltoy making him crash to the ground. The Psychic type quickly shrugged off the attack and got back into the air ready to retaliate.

At the same time Seviper's tail glowed purple and it sprang forward and swung his tail at Mudkip's abdomen but to the serpent's surprise the mud fish leapt over his bladed tail and slammed his now metallic tail down on Seviper's head. The snake hissed in pain and slithered away from Mudkip to try and deal with the splitting headache that was now plaguing him.

After watching the opening skirmish between the four Pokemon Ash was feeling pretty good after that initial assault but then he took a quick look at his Pokémon and saw that Cyndaquil was staggering around. Ash realised that charging into the Psybeam may not have been the best idea as he now had a confused Cyndaquil.

"Mudkip use Water Gun and Cyndaquil snap out of it and use Flamethrower."

"Go for another Poison Tail and Baltoy hit Mudkip with Zen Headbutt."

Mudkip shot a forceful blast of water at Baltoy intent on knocking it out early. However before it could do any real damage to Mudkip had to quickly stop the attack as Cyndaquil shot a burst of flames in his direction instead of at Seviper, as the flames grew closer Mudkip was forced to jump out of the flames path to avoid the attack. This gave Mudkip no chance to dodge Seviper's poisoned tail which slammed down on his back. The force of the attack sent Mudkip plummeting back to the ground rapidly. Mudkip braced himself however just as he was about to hit the ground Baltoy who's head was surrounded in a blue glow slammed into him and Mudkip crashed into the arena side wall. Ash looked at the Mudkip who was embedded in the wall and was clearly in pain.

"Mudkip are you okay?" Ash asked worriedly.

With a grunt Mudkip pulled himself out of the wall and after taking a few wobbly steps he grinned looking ready for more. It was obvious that the grin was disguising the pain Mudkip was in however Ash reluctantly allowed Mudkip to continue.

"Seviper Wrap Cyndaquil."

"Mudkip stop Seviper with Iron Tail."

"Zen Headbutt again." Thalion quickly added.

Seviper charged towards Cyndaquil preparing to wrap his body around the small Fire type and crush him. In response to the attack Mudkip's tail turned metallic again and he leapt up aiming to hit Seviper's head but this time he was blocked by Baltoy who's head was once again glowing blue. Both Pokemon battled for superiority however after a few moments the attacks cancelled each other out. As the pair separated Mudkip went to stop Seviper again but Baltoy got in the way and began trying to jab him with the spike on his head. Mudkip had no choice but to forget about helping Cyndaquil and focus on dodging Baltoy's attacks. This meant that there was nothing to stop Seviper from attacking Cyndaquil who was still suffering from the confusion. The serpent quickly wrapped his body around Cyndaquil and began squeezing the mouse. The power of Seviper's attack made Cyndaquil cry out as Seviper crushed his body.

"Poison Fang."

Seviper's fangs suddenly glowed purple and he bit down hard on Cyndaquil's neck breaking the skin and injecting poison directly into his body, the pain made Cyndaquil cry out again and like he had in the battle against Vanya Cyndaquil coughed up some purple ooze. Ash stood there unsure what to do, he had been in control of the battle but the tide was turning rapidly. He looked at Mudkip and saw that he was holding his own against Baltoy but he was being forced back and was in no position to help Cynaquil. He then turned his gaze back to Cyndaquil who to Ash's relief no longer appeared to be confused. Ash smirked as an idea suddenly came to mind.

"Cyndaquil use Flame Wheel."

With the confusion no longer afflicting him Cyndaquil nodded and curled his body into a ball. He then became engulfed in flames and he began spinning in Seviper's grip. The serpent tried holding on to the mouse but the flames were just too intense, he could feel his skin starting to burn from the attack so he was forced to let go of Cyndaquil. The mouse continued rolling once he was free and slammed into Seviper's head sending the snake flying into Baltoy giving Mudkip a much needed reprieve.

Ash looked at Mudkip and Cyndaquil and saw that his Pokémon were in a much worse state than Thalion's. He knew that it would take something big to turn this around right now. He then saw that Cyndaquil's attack had burnt Seviper which was a relief for Ash as that would seriously hinder his physical attacks. Cyndaquil and Mudkip fell back to Ash so they could regroup and Baltoy and Seviper did the same.

"Seviper Venoshock."

It was common knowledge that Venoshock was powered up against poisoned targets and with the amount of poison that must be flooding Cyndaquil's system it was obvious that Venoshock would easily finish him off. With this in mind Ash knew that he had to do something to stop the attack.

"Flamethrower"

Seviper opened his mouth and fired several balls of green sludge at Cyndaquil who shot a burst of flames in return. The attacks collided and the flames did manage to stop some of the poison and then carry on and hit Seviper who was engulfed in the flames and after he screamed in agony he barely managed to stay conscious. Unfortunately for Cyndaquil the majority of the poison Seviper had shot out got through and hit Cyndaquil who felt an immense amount of pain as the poison in his body reacted to the Venoshock. Cyndaquil tried to keep standing but the pain caused by the attack combined with the poison was just to much for him and he fell forward unconscious.

"Cyndaquil is unable to battle. Ash choose your next Pokémon."

"Raichu to the battlefield and use Thunderbolt."

Raichu leapt off his tail and on to the battlefield, as he landed his cheeks started crackling and before Thalion had a chance to react Raichu fired a bolt of lightning at Seviper. The serpent was far too tired to even try to dodge the electricity and cried out in pain collapsing shortly after.

"Seviper is unable to battle. Thalion choose your next Pokémon."

"Cacturne you're up."

"Mudkip come back. Sneasel to the battlefield."

Cacturne stomped on to the battlefield confidently, he knew he was the biggest and most intimidating Pokemon here and was certain the smaller Pokemon would back down in fear. He watched as the tiny Sneasel casually strolled on to the battlefield swapping with a disgruntled looking Mudkip. He locked eyes with the Sneasel and was shocked to see not a hint of fear in her eyes. He growled and then got in a battle stance in preparation for the upcoming battle.

"Raichu grab Baltoy with your tail and slam him into the ground and Sneasel use Night Slash while he's down."

"Cacturne intercept Sneasel with Needle Arm and Baltoy use Psybeam on Raichu."

In the blink of an eye Raichu shot forward and his tail wrapped around Baltoy who fired another Psybeam it the mouse. This didn't worry Ash as thanks to Raichu's new typing Raichu easily shook off the attack and slammed Baltoy in to the ground and held him there as Sneasel approached. However before she could strike she was blocked by Cacturne who's arm was glowing green. Cacturne's green fist clashed with Sneasel's pitch black claws and at first glance it appeared that they were even. But on closer inspection you could see that Sneasel was having to work incredibly hard to keep up the attack. Ash could see Sneasel struggling and knew he needed to help her or else she wouldn't last long.

"Raichu throw Baltoy at Cacturne."

Raichu looked up at the clash between Cacturne and Sneasel and quickly swung his tail around releasing Baltoy shooting him straight at Cacturne clattering into him and knocking him off balance. This allowed Sneasel to overpower Cacturne and she slashed both Pokémon, Cacturne was largely unaffected by the attack. Baltoy on the other hand took major damage from the super effective move. Both Pokémon got back up however Baltoy was struggling to stay in the air now.

"Sneasel Dig and finish off Baltoy."

"Cacturne stop her with Needle Arm. Baltoy Rest."

"Raichu match Cacturne with Thunder Punch."

Baltoy drifted to the ground and then closed his eyes falling to sleep which started to gradually recover his strength. Sneasel wasn't about to give Baltoy the chance to heal though and quickly burrowed underground, she reappeared moments later and Cacturne ran at her as his arm glowed green. Once he was close Cacturne threw his fist forward but was met by a fist crackling with electricity. Sneasel without anyone to stop her slashed Baltoy with her pitch black claws which made Baltoy faint. Cacturne made the mistake of briefly looking at his fainted team mate which gave Raichu the opportunity to hit him with his other fist making Cacturne fall back in front of Thalion.

"Baltoy is unable to battle. Send out your last Pokémon."

Thalion returned Baltoy and the Blaziken next to him walked on to the battlefield. Blaziken looked at Raichu and smirked knowing that he was going to be a real challenge.

"Use Blaze Kick on Sneasel."

"Raichu intercept with Quick Attack. Sneasel Dig again."

"Cacturne stop Raichu with Drain Punch."

Blaziken's leg became engulfed in flames and he ran at Sneasel aiming a kick at her. Raichu quickly shot off in an attempt to stop the attack but was met by Cacturne's fist which did some damage to him but more crucially restored some of Cacturne's health. Sneasel had leapt up to burrow underground but Blaziken was faster and he launched his flaming foot into Sneasel's abdomen catapulting her into the air.

"Jump and use Blaze Kick again. Cacturne use Needle Arm on Sneasel."

"Raichu stop Blaziken with Thunderbolt. Sneasel Ice Beam."

Blaziken leapt into the air and his leg was again engulfed in flames. Just as he was about to kick Sneasel a bolt of electricity hit him stopping his attack and stunning him. Blaziken tried to recover from the attack but couldn't in time and he crashed to the ground. Cacturne ran at the descending Sneasel who formed a light blue ball in her hands. Just as Sneasel was about to fire her attack Cacturne punched Sneasel which sent her skidding along the ground coming to a halt when she slammed into the wall.

"Quick Blaziken use Flamethrower."

Blaziken who was still recovering from Raichu's Thunderbolt shot a stream of flames at Sneasel who still hadn't gotten up. Ash and Raichu had no time to do anything to prevent the attack and the flames hit Sneasel which knocked her out.

"Sneasel is unable to battle."

Ash recalled Sneasel and Mudkip walked forward wearily. He was still tired from earlier but he'd do everything he could to help win this battle. Ash looked at Mudkip and could tell he was running on empty and it was mostly down to Raichu now although he'd kind of been expecting that to be the case from the beginning.

"Cacturne use Giga Drain and Blaziken use Mach Punch."

"Mudkip use Water Gun on the ground and then hit Cacturne with Iron Tail. Raichu match Blaziken's speed with Quick Attack."

Blaziken's fist glowed white and he ran at Raichu who in response shot off at an incredible speed. Their attacks clashed and both Pokémon knocked back but neither appeared to have taken any damage. Meanwhile Mudkip did as told and shot a Water Gun at the ground which sent him soaring into the air dodging Cacturne's attempt at using Giga Drain. His tail took a metallic sheen and he aimed it down at Cacturne's head. Sadly the cactus dodged and Mudkip's tail slammed into the ground embedding in the battlefield.

"Cacturne trap Mudkip and use again Giga Drain. Blaziken distract Raichu as long as possible."

Thalion's Pokémon executed the orders so quickly that Ash didn't have the chance to help his Pokémon He could only watch as Raichu started fighting a close quarter battle with Blaziken something that his Alolan form wasn't best at. He turned his attention to Mudkip and saw Cacturne pull him out of the ground and held Mudkip in his arms. Suddenly an intense green glow surrounded both Cacturne and Mudkip. The glow around Mudkip lessened as time went on and when the attack finished Mudkip was limp in Cacturne's arms. The cactus released Mudkip who slumped to the ground clearly unconscious.

"Mudkip is unable to battle."

Ash returned Mudkip, he looked at his Pokéball proud of how well he'd fought and knew that he had been given a strong Pokemon. He placed the Pokéball back on his belt and looked at Raichu who now stood alone against Cacturne and Blaziken. Despite being outnumbered Raichu was clearly confident that he would be victorious as Cacturne looked exhausted from his earlier battles.

"Blaziken Flamethrower and Cacturne use Dark Pulse."

"Raichu dodge the Flamethrower with Quick Attack and hit Cacturne with Iron Tail. Then hit him in the air with Thunder Punch and use Quick Attack again. Then finish him with Thunderbolt."

Blaziken shot a stream of flames at Raichu and Cacturne released a wave of dark energy. Raichu shot off easily avoiding the flames and leapt up dodging the dark energy. He then slammed his now metallic tail down on Cacturne's head making him fall forward where he was met by an electric infused punch which sent him flying into the air. Raichu then shot off at an incredible speed again and rammed into Cacturne sending him crashing into the arena side wall. Raichu quickly shot a bolt of electricity at Cacturne who had no chance to dodge the attack and he was knocked out.

"Cacturne is unable to battle."

Thalion returned him leaving Raichu and Blaziken as the last Pokémon standing, no one watching knew for sure how this battle would turn out. The only thing they knew was that it was going to be an immense battle.

"Fire Punch."

"Thunder Punch."

Blaziken's fist became engulfed in flames and Raichu's fist was crackling with electricity. They charged forwards and their fists clashed. Blaziken looked to have the advantage and was pushing the physically weaker Raichu back however Raichu's left fist began crackling with electricity and he punched Blaziken who was knocked back more through surprise than anything else.

"Raichu Iron Tail."

"Grab it Blaziken."

"When he does counter with Thunderbolt."

Raichu's tail quickly turned metallic and he swung it at Blaziken who managed to recover in time to grab hold of the mouse's tail. Raichu then wrapped his tail around Blaziken's arm and fired an incredible amount of electricity down his tail straight into Blaziken who yelled out in pain and released the hold on his tail. This gave Raichu the chance to jump back on his tail and back away from Blaziken.

"Iron Tail again."

"Sky Uppercut."

Raichu jumped back and his tail again took on a metallic sheen. He leapt in the air aiming his tail at Blaziken who's fist glowed white and he leapt up. His fist hit Raichu and at the same time Raichu's tail slammed down on Blaziken's head. Both Pokémon then crashed to the ground. They slowly sat up and they both looked exhausted. They pushed themselves to their feet but it was obvious they only had one more attack left in them.

"Flare Blitz."

"Volt Tackle."

Blaziken became engulfed in flames and Raichu was surrounded with electricity. Both Pokémon charged full speed at each other. When the attacks collided they created a massive shock wave which knocked Ash and Thalion off their feet and shrouded the battlefield in dust. Ash and Thalion slowly got back to their feet. Ash quickly making sure that Eevee and Ralts were alright. He looked at the battlefield and saw that the dust was settling. Ash and Thalion could see that both Raichu and Blaziken were somehow still standing after their clash. Both Pokemon looked exhausted though as they were covered in minor injuries and breathing heavily. Ash knew that Raichu wouldn't be able to match Blaziken in power again so he only had one choice left.

"Finish this off with Psychic Raichu."

Even though this was risky it was the only way Ash was sure he could win this battle. Upon hearing the command Raichu gulped and closed his eyes trying to focus on the new powers he had attained through evolving. He calmed himself and felt the power start to surge through him.

"Use Fire Punch Blaziken, don't let him use Psychic."

With a nod Blaziken's fist was engulfed and he charged at Raichu who was stood still with his eyes closed. Ash watched as Blaziken was rapidly approaching Raichu and was starting to regret his decision. With victory in his sights Blaziken threw his fist forward confident that this would end the battle but was stopped mere inches from Raichu's face. He looked down at his arm and saw a blueish glow surrounding him, he looked at Raichu and watched the mouses blue eyes open but this time they were glowing blue. Moments later he found himself being thrown through the air and was then slammed to the floor creating a small crater. The fire type tried to get back to his feet but his body could take no more and he collapsed.

"Blaziken is unable to battle, the winner is Ash Ketchum."

Ash let out a relieved sigh that his plan had worked, he walked onto the battlefield to congratulate Raichu and was just in time to catch the mouse who had lost consciousness due to using Psychic. The young Pokemon that had been in Ash's arms quickly moved onto his shoulders allowing Ash to pick up Raichu. With a groan Raichu's eyes opened and he looked up at Ash looking and feeling completely exhausted.

"Hey that was a great battle buddy." Ash said.

"Ash is right that was a great battle." Thalion said.

Ash looked up and saw that Thalion was helping Blaziken to his feet, both trainer and Pokémon made their way over to Ash and Raichu extending a hand to them. Ash and Raichu shook them and smiled at their opponents.

"Well done you two, you should go and collect you rewards" Thalion said

"Actually Thalion I was thinking that I should take the evolutionary stones and you take the egg." Ash replied.

"Why? You won the battle."

"True but had the referee waited a few more seconds it would have been a draw. Besides I already have two young ones to take care of so it really makes sense for you to take the egg."

"Okay then, when you put it like that how can I say no."

There was a small awards ceremony after all the Pokemon were healed, Ash was given the evolutionary stones and Thalion was given the egg which was pretty plain in appearance so it was hard to tell what would hatch from it. Thalion was offered the second place prize but refused since he already had the egg. This gave Vanya an idea to have a third place play-off for the prize, everyone agreed with her idea and of course won easily. She gratefully took the Soothe Bell from the tournament organisers and alongside Ash, Thalion and all their Pokemon took a group photo. With the ceremony over the trio waved to the crowd and walked out of the stadium towards the Pokémon Centre hearing the crowds cheers all the way.

* * *

They walked into the Pokémon Centre and handed their Pokéballs and Raichu to Nurse Joy, while they had been given Potions and Full Heals at the ceremony they wanted their Pokemon to be properly healed. Nurse Joy took their Pokémon to the recovery room leaving the trainers alone in the lobby, the trio quickly went and sat down at a table as they waited for their Pokémon to be healed.

"So guys where are you headed?" Ash asked.

"Well we are going to Dewford next, I've won the Stone badge alreadug so Brawly is my next target." Thalion replied.

"What about Vanya, isn't she earning the gym badges?"

"Nope, I'm just travelling with my brother to get some experience for next year. I'm not trying to earn any badgers."

"Okay, well I am going to Rustboro to win my first badge. Are you two leaving today?"

"I think so, if we leave as soon as possible we should be able to catch the next boat to Dewford tonight." Thalion said.

Nurse Joy walked back out with their Pokéballs and Raichu, the trio of young trainers took their Pokémon and thanked her for healing them. They turned around and walked outside.

"Those were some great battles guys. Hopefully we'll meet up again."

"Yeah Ash we'll see each other again and next time I'll win." Vanya said confidently.

"Okay Vanya I look forward to it."

Vanya wrapped her arms around Ash and he returned the embrace, hugging her just as tightly. After a while she released her grip and looked at Ash with a smile on her face. Thalion grabbed Ash hand and shook it once again, both showing each other a great deal of respect.

"It was a great battle Ash and thanks again for saving Vanya."

"I can't wait to battle you again Thalion and like I said it was no problem."

The siblings nodded and both pulled a Pokéball off their belt. Thalion sent out a Flygon and Vanya sent out her Tropius. They jumped on their backs and the flying types took off. Thalion, Vanya and Ash waved to each other until they were no longer in sight. Ash walked back into the Pokémon Centre sad to have parted ways with them so soon but he knew that one day he would meet the siblings again.

He looked to the video phones and decided it was time to bite the bullet and call Misty. He let out a sigh and walked over to the phones but he suddenly remembered that he intended to swap his Pokémon so he needed to give them some training to do back at the ranch. While it could have waited Ash was looking for any excuse to delay the inevitable conversation with Misty so he went outside, took the Pokéballs off his belt and sent out all of his Pokémon.

"Okay guys I am going to rotate some of you out so I am going to assign you some training to do. After some thought I've decided that Pidgeot, Cyndaquil and Sneasel you are going back."

The chosen Pokémon all complained not wanting to go back.

"Sorry guys but I will be rotating frequently so I'll see you again soon."

They nodded showing they understood. They still didn't look happy about it.

"Pidgeot I want you to keep working on Close Combat. Cyndaquil work on Overheat and Sneasel work on Ice Punch and Brick Break."

They nodded again and after saying goodbye Ash returned them.

* * *

Ash walked back inside the Pokémon Centre to the phones not at all looking forward to what he was about to do. As he was about to dial Misty's number Ash had an idea and began dialling Brock's number instead. His plan was to hopefully get Brock to calm Misty down a bit before he called her. Ash dialled Brock's number praying that he was there. The phone was picked up and it was Suzie one of Brock's sisters who appeared on the screen.

"Hi Suzie is Brock there?" Ash asked.

"Hi Ash. Yeah I'll go get him."

She ran off-screen and Ash heard her yell Brock at the top of her voice making Ash wonder why she had even bothered walking away from the phone. Shortly after that Brock appeared on-screen wearing an apron looking like he had been in the middle of cooking dinner for his family.

"Hey Brocko. How are you?"

"I'm fine thanks Ash. How's Hoenn?"

"It's been... interesting so far. Hey if this is a bad time I'll call back some other time."

"Don't worry my dad has things under control so I have time to talk. So when you say interesting what do you mean?"

Ash proceeded to tell Brock about his whole adventure so far from his meeting with Team Rocket to the tournament final.

"What is it with you and destroying bikes?" Brock said jokingly.

"When I saw the smouldering remains of that bike I was thinking the same thing."

"But seriously be careful Ash. That Team Magma sound like they mean business, I don't think they're clowns like Team Rocket."

"Hey I resent dat." Meowth interrupted.

Ash, Raichu and Brock laughed at the now sulking cat.

"Listen Brock I want to apologise for not calling sooner. I was going to call before I left Kanto but I thought that if I called you and Misty you would both say you couldn't come and would feel guilty. And as much as I loved travelling with you both this was something I had to do on my own."

"It's okay Ash I understand and from what you've told me you've been pretty busy since you left Pallet Town."

"Yeah I guess I have. By the way Brock I have a favour to ask."

"Okay Ash what is it?"

"Can you call Misty and tell her what I've told you? I know I'm asking a lot but she is more likely to listen to you than me and I don't want her scaring Eevee again."

"Okay Ash I'll give her a basic version. But you'll have to tell her the rest."

"Thanks Brock. It was good talking to you again and I promise I'll call you again soon bu now I've got to go now and make some more calls."

"Right. I'll call Misty. So make your other calls first and then call her."

"Okay. Thanks again Brock. See ya."

"Bye."

They both hung up. Ash let out a sigh of relief. He had been worried that Brock might be mad at him for not telling him about his plans to travel through Hoenn alone and that he wouldn't help him with Misty. With one call down Ash decided to give his mother a quick call next so he could give her an update on what happened. The dialled the number and the call was almost immediately received.

"Hello Ash." Delia said.

"Hi mum. How are you and Mimey?"

"We're fine thank you. How's Hoenn?"

Ash gave his mother a cut down version of what happened as he didn't want to worry her any more than she already was. Upon hearing the news Delia couldn't stop herself from worrying about Ash but she knew that he was strong enough now to take care of himself. Suddenly she spotted two young Pokemon on Ash's shoulders and was immediately enamoured with Eevee and Ralts and they both quickly took to Delia.

"It's been great talking to you again, I wish I could talk longer but I've got to make a couple more calls . So I'll call you soon okay mum."

"Okay Ash bye. Oh and remember to change your Underwear."

Ash went bright red in embarrassment, he quickly said goodbye and hung up the phone. He was glad that the Pokémon Centre was empty, he wasn't sure he could take someone else hearing his mother say that. After recovering from his embarrassment he chose to call Professor Oak so he could ask him about Eevee wanting to evolve into a Glaceon and also talk about switching his Pokémon.

"Hi Professor."

"Ah hello Ash I presume you are calling to exchange Pokémon."

"Yes Professor I'm sending you Pidgeot, Cyndaquil and Sneasel. Can you send me Noctowl and Snorlax please?"

"Okay Ash place their Pokéballs in the transfer machine and I'll go get Noctowl and Snorlax."

Ash placed the Pokéballs in the machine and waited for Professor Oakto return with his Pokemon. To Ash's relief he came back quickly and placed two Pokéballs in the machine in his lab. Ash watched as his three Pokéballs shone and then vanished.

"I've received your Pokéballs Ash. Noctowl and Snorlax are being sent now."

Ash looked back to the transfer machine and two Pokéballs appeared. He took them out of the machine and placed them on his belt.

"They've got here safe and sound. Thanks Professor Oak."

"No problem Ash. Is there anything else you need?"

"Actually Professor there is something I need to talk to you about."

"Okay Ash I'm listening."

"Well I was looking through my Pokédex with Eevee and she decided that she wanted to evolve into Glaceon. I know that there is no known area in Hoenn where this is possible but I was wondering if there was anyway to do it?"

Professor Oak rubbed his chin as he appeared to be deep in thought. Ash was pretty sure it would be nigh on impossible to do this but he was prepared to leave for Sinnoh when Eevee was ready if he needed to.

"Honestly Ash I don't know." Eevee's ears drooped and she whined in defeat.

"However I will have a word with Professor Rowan and Professor Juniper and with their help we might be able to come up with something."

Eevee quickly perked up and rubbed her cheek against the screen trying to show her gratitude. The display made Ash and Professor Oak chuckle.

"Thanks Professor. I'll leave you to your work now."

"Okay Ash. I'll call you as soon as I find out something."

Professor Oak then ended the call, Eevee looked up at Ash happily but he could tell that she was disappointed with what she'd heard.

"Don't worry Eevee if anyone can figure this out it is Professor Oak."

Eevee yipped and nuzzled Ash elated that she'd get the chance to someday evolve into a Glaceon. Ralts then wrapped her arms around her sister and Ash brought them both into a hug. After a while he let go of them and sighed, he'd postponed this for as long as possible and now it was time for the bollocking of his life.

Ash slowly and reluctantly dialled Misty's number. He was hoping Brock had managed to calm her but he wasn't sure anyone could stop Misty's wrath when she was angry. The phone rung several times and Ash considered hanging up and saying that she didn't pick up so he would get a little more time to prepare for the conversation. However just as he was about to give up, the call was received and Misty appeared on the screen. Upon seeing her Ash audibly gulped, he could see the look of pure rage in her eyes and knew that if she were here right now he would be getting malleted to death.

"Hi Misty." Ash said instantly regretted the rather casual tone he had used.

"HI!" Misty screamed.

Oh shit here it comes Ash thought.

"YOU HANG UP ON ME WITHOUT SAYING WHY. WAIT A WEEK TO CALL BACK. THEN YOU GET BROCK TO DO YOUR DIRTY WORK AND ALL YOU HAVE TO SAY IS HI?!" She yelled

Eevee instantly recognised the voice and buried her head into Ash's shirt. He could hear her whimpering again and could feel her tears starting to dampen his shirt.

"Misty I'm sorry." Ash said hoping it would calm her.

"SHUT UP I'M NOT FINISHED!" She screeched back.

Eevee was now badly trembling and more tears were being shed as the memories of the first time she heard that voice coming back to her.

"Misty stop shouting and please calm down you're scaring Eevee." Ash said looking at the young Pokémon in his arms.

Misty briefly looked at the young Pokémon and saw her shivering in Ash's arms. The Ralts then stood in front of Eevee which partially blocked her from view. Ash tried calming Eevee down and her shaking did appear to be lessening and she was no longer whimpering.

"It's okay Eevee she's our friend. She was just mad at me. Don't worry she won't hurt you." Ash said softly.

Eevee raised her head and Misty saw the look on Eevee's face and felt immensely guilty for scaring a young Pokémon so badly.

"I'm sorry Eevee I let my anger get the better of me." Misty said sadly.

Eevee seemed to listen but buried her head back into Ash's shirt.

"Meowth, Raichu can you take Eevee out for some air?"

'Okay Ash.' Raichu replied.

Ash handed Eevee to Raichu who walked outside with Meowth alongside him, Ralts followed closely after them clearly worried about her sister. Ash watched them leave it saddened him to see Eevee like that again but he was happy to see Ralts trying to comfort her. The sisterly bond that Ralts and Eevee seemed to share brought a smile to Ash's face. Ash then turned back to the screen and saw Misty looking incredibly guilty.

"Listen Misty she's only just over a week old. Give it a bit of time and she'll be fine."

Misty nodded still looking miserable.

"Hey I really am sorry for what I did. Did Brock tell you much?"

The sad look on her face was replaced with an infuriated one.

"He told me why you didn't call us. How you trashed another girl's bike and about the Pokémon you'd caught."

Ash quickly filled her in on the rest not leaving out a single detail. She like Brock was concerned about Team Magma but unlike Brock she still seemed pretty pissed at him which didn't surprise Ash. He knew it would take more than a few words to placate Misty when she was this angry.

"So apart from furious at me how are you?" he asked jokingly hoping to lighten the mood.

"Fine." she said curtly.

"What about the gym?" Ash asked.

"It's fine."

Ash was starting to get irritated with her attitude, it was one he was far to familiar with after experiencing it for over three years of his life

"Misty if you're not going to have a conversation with me I might as well end the call now." Ash said frustratedly.

"Fine then just go." she snapped.

"Misty come on don't be like this." Ash said not wanting to end their conversation like this.

"I SAID GO." she yelled.

Ash sighed.

"Fine see ya Mist."

Before Misty had a chance to respond Ash hung up the phone. Although he felt guilt for hanging up on Misty again he had no desire to have another one of the stupid childish arguments they use to have when they were travelling through Kanto, The Orange Islands and Johto. Ash took one last glance at the screen and then got up and went outside. To his relief he saw that Eevee had calmed down now, he bent down and picked Eevee and Ralts up and let Meowth climb on to his shoulder while Raichu was levitating on his tail. Ash hadn't noticed how long he had been talking on the phone and was surprised to see that it was now dark. He checked his Pokénav and his eyes widened as he saw that it was ten o'clock. He went back inside and went up to his room, the group collapsed on to the bed and quickly fell to sleep.

* * *

Next morning Ash slept in for once which was something he hadn't done since he had started his training with Professor Oak. Although Ash wanted to get going as soon as possible he had to wait until the Poké Mart opened as he needed to restock his supplies. After laying in bed with his Pokemon for a little while Ash left the Pokémon Centre so he could introduce Noctowl and Snorlax to his new Pokémon and get everyone's breakfast. They sat outside and ate together which allowed Ash to learn a bit more about his Pokémon thanks to Meowth.

Ash lost track of time while talking to his Pokémon and when he looked at the time he saw that the Poké Mart had opened ages ago. He returned his Pokémon and walked towards the Poké Mart. Once there he went inside and started buying everything he'd need until he reached Rustboro. A full rucksack and a long shopping bill later Ash walked out of Nikita Town and now stood at a crossroad looking at the two paths that led to Rustboro. Ash looked at the Pokémon in his arms, the one on his shoulder and finally to his best friend levitating beside him.

"So we have two options everyone, we can go north east and head through Petalburg Woods. It will be dark and dank in there but it will be quicker. The other option is to go north. It will take longer but it will be a more pleasant journey. So which way do you guys think we should go?" Ash asked.

All four Pokémon stuck out a limb pointing straight to the North path which made Ash chuckle.

"I agree let's go."

* * *

Notes

Please give a review telling me what you liked/didn't like.

If you have any questions I am more than happy to answer them.

Ash:

On Hand - Raichu (Alolan), Meowth, Mudkip, Totodile, Phanpy, Snorlax, Noctowl, Nincada, Eevee (Shiny) & Ralts

Kanto – Raichu, Meowth, Ivysaur, Wartortle, Charizard, Pidgeot, Kingler, Muk, Tauros(x29), Snorlax & Eevee (Shiny)

Johto – Totodile, Bayleaf, Cyndaquil, Heracross, Noctowl (Shiny), Phanpy & Sneasel

Hoenn – Mudkip, Nincada & Ralts


	8. A Traumatic Day For Ralts

Thanks for the reviews guys I really appreciate you taking the time to write one.

Hey guys before the chapter begins I want to say that the poll I had put up has been restarted this time without Mew. The reason for this is that like Celebi I might have a plan for her later on and she is a rather overused Legendary in stories. Normally I wouldn't have restarted a poll but because this won't happen for a while there is plenty of time for you to vote. I'm not going to restart the poll again before anyone asks.

Right here's chapter 8 I hope you enjoy it.

In conversations:

'- Translation of Poké Speech – No human unless otherwise stated can understand it.

"- Human speech

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon.

* * *

The small group were casually walking along the coastline enjoying the journey to Rustboro. The sun was out and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. After a couple of hours Ash decided to stop as they were on the coast and since it was such a nice day he thought that they might as well enjoy the ocean and the beach. Ash took all of his Pokéballs off his belt and sent out all of his Pokémon. Snorlax immediately went to sleep, Noctowl went and took residence in a tree while Totodile, Raichu and Mudkip got in the ocean and started playing. The rest of the Pokémon decided to stay with Ash either to rest of just stay as far away from the water as possible. Ash took off his backpack and sat down with his Pokémon. He looked at Eevee and Ralts and saw they were both looking longingly out at the ocean.

"Do you two wanna play in the ocean?" Ash asked.

Both of the young Pokémon smiled and then nodded.

"Okay. Just let me get changed." he said with a smile.

Ash quickly changed out of his travelling clothes and into his swimming trunks. He then picked up Ralts and Eevee and carried them to the water. Meowth and Phanpy stayed where they were as they were not big fans of the water for obvious reasons. Ash waded into the ocean and held on to the young Pokémon as they splashed in the water. Ash smiled as he heard them giggle happily.

Suddenly the loud sound of a stomach grumbling caught everyone's attention. They all looked at where the noise had come from and they saw Snorlax was now awake and clearly waiting for dinner to be served. Ash saw that the sun had passed far through the sky and realised that he had been so preoccupied with his daughters that he hadn't been keeping track of time and it really surprised him that they'd actually been here that long. Ash watched as all of his Pokémon were now stood with Snorlax obviously wanting their dinner too. Ash started wading towards the shore so he could get their meals ready, he got out of the ocean but briefly stopped as he heard Eevee and Ralts whine clearly not wanting to stop playing.

"I'm sorry but I have to make everyone's meals. I'd let you keep playing but you two don't know how to swim yet and even if you did you're not strong enough to defend yourselves from wild Pokémon. So I'm sorry but you have to stay on the beach with me." Ash said.

Ash walked over to his backpack and placed Ralts and Eevee who were both lookign disappointed on the ground nearby. He started rummaging through his pack for everyone's meals which meant he could longer see Ralts and Eevee. The young Pokemon noticed this an now that their dad couldn't see them the baby Pokémon exchanged a glance. With a nod they got up and started running back towards the ocean. Moment's later Ash found the meals and too them out of his backpack, he placed the meals on the ground and then noticed that Ralts and Eevee were not where he left them. Ash turned around and to his horror he saw Ralts and Eevee about to jump back into the water.

"Ralts, Eevee stop." Ash yelled desperately.

Despite the pair knowing that they should probably listen to their dad, Ralts and Eevee ignored Ash completely and were about to jump into the water. However they were immediately stopped when a long tail wrapped around both of them. Ralts and Eevee struggle to get free and then looked at the owner of the tail, seeing a very angry and disappointed mouse frowning at that.

'You should have listened to your dad.' Raichu scolded.

Neither Pokemon had heard Raichu speak in that tone before and it dawned on both of them that they had obviously made a very bad decision. Ralts and Eevee both hung their heads sadly and stared at the sandy beach. Raichu shook his head in disappointment at their behaviour and then carried the two young Pokémon back to Ash, he gently placed them on the ground in front of Ash and looked up at him.

"Thanks Raichu." Ash said gratefully. Ash then took a bottle of ketchup out of his bag and gave it to Raichu. "You deserve that buddy."

Ash watched Raichu nod in response and then dash away to a nearby shaded area as he happily took the bottle and started guzzling the condiment. Ash chuckled at his glutinous best friend and then turned his attention to his children who were both looking at the ground guiltily.

"I'm very disappointed in you two. I told you to do something for your own safety and you didn't listen to me."

The young Pokemon kept staring at the ground, shuffling their feet and mumbling their names. Ash sighed and left it at that, he set out everyone's food ignoring his daughter who were watching him. As Ralts and Eevee watched their dad they felt their guilt be overwhelmed by sadness as they say how much they had upset him.

Once all of the food was set out the Pokémon all started scoffing their meals. Ash fed Eevee and Ralts as he had done before but after dinner he paid them very little attention for the rest of the night. Ash felt awful for doing it and every time he glanced at them he would see the same heartbroken look on their faces which made him want to cuddle them until they were happy again. But he knew that ignoring them was the best way for them to learn their lesson.

As it got late all the Pokémon went to their own sleeping area. The only exceptions were Ralts and Eevee who were stood looking at their dad unsure what to do. Ash looked at Ralts and Eevee and could see that they had learned their lesson. He shifted Raichu so he would have room for them like usual. He then wrapped his free arm around Eevee and Ralts and brought them into the sleeping bag pulling them to his chest. The action surprised them and they looked questioningly at their dads face.

"I'm sorry that I have been so cold with you tonight. I just wanted you to learn your lesson and I can see that you both have. So I forgive you but just promise me that if I tell you to do something in the future you'll do it."

Both Pokémon smiled and nodded. They snuggled into his embrace and they all quickly fell to sleep.

* * *

The next morning after the group had a quick breakfast they continued their journey to Rustboro. As they were walking Ash, Raichu and Meowth heard sounds of battle coming from nearby. The trio were all curious so Ash started walking to where the sounds were coming from. He pushed past some bushes and saw a Zangoose surrounded by three hissing Seviper's.

The Zangoose's left arm hung limp at it's side and blood was constantly flowing from the wound that ran from its shoulder to its elbow. The blood was dripping off it's claws and staining grass red. There was also a gash across it's face going from it's forehead crossing its right eye and finishing at its upper lip. The rest of Zangoose's body wasn't in much better condition as it was covered in cuts and bruises. Ash saw the Seviper were now closing in for the kill and he couldn't just stand there and watch the Zangoose die.

"Raichu Thunderbolt." he called out.

Raichu leapt off his tail and shot a bolt of electricity at one of the Seviper closing in on the Zangoose. The Thunderbolt then arced off the first Seviper and shocked the other two as well. The serpents all cried out in agony and when the attack ended they quickly fled from the area. Ash put Eevee and Ralts down as he was pretty sure the Zangoose would be hostile and he didn't want to put them in danger. He slowly approached the injured Pokémon who had collapsed to its knees and was holding his injured arm. As Ash knelt down Zangoose wildly lashed out with its right arm but the Zangoose was so weak that it was easy for Ash to avoid. The action took the last of Zangoose's strength and it lost consciousness.

Ash then sent out his Pokémon and started making camp. Ash gave them all instructions except Snorlax who was asleep which was no surprise to anyone and Mudkip. The Pokémon immediately went and did as he asked so Ash could focus on Zangoose. While his Pokemon went about their tasks Ash sat next to Zangoose and was joined by Ralts and Eevee all three looked concerned as his wounds looked even worse now that they could see them up close. Ash took a closer look at the wounds and knew the blood needed to be washed off first to make sure the wounds wouldn't get infected.

"Mudkip come here please." Ash said.

The mud fish had been patiently waiting for his instructions and quickly walked over to Ash and looked worriedly at Zangoose. He'd never seen a Pokemon so severely injured before, being born and raised at Professor Elms lab had shielded him from many things that he would have experienced in the wild.

"I need you to wash the blood off of Zangoose."

Mudkip nodded and careful shot water at the wounds, he was sure not to fire the attack to powerfully as he knew that would do more harm than good. The blood was gradually washed off and a pool of diluted blood formed on the ground around Zangoose. Now that the blood was no longed covering Zangoose's body they could see the extent of the wounds and it wasn't a pretty sight. Luckily most of the wounds would be taken care of by a Super Potion and some rest. However Ash was certain that Zangoose's arm was either broken or fractured and all he could for that right now is put it in a sling until they get to the next Pokémon Centre.

Ash took a Super Potion out of his backpack and sprayed Zangoose's wounds, he then carefully wrapped the wounds with some bandages and put Zangoose's arm in a makeshift sling. He wasn't sure what to do about the gash on its face since he was pretty sure it would need stitches which he couldn't do at least not on an injury like this. With few other options he decided to bandage the wound which would at least stop it getting infected. Ash had to admit that he was glad that Zangoose was unconscious the whole time. He knew that if Zangoose hadn't been this would've be been a lot harder.

With Zangoose treated to the best of his ability Ash gently laid Zangoose down and took out his Pokédex. He then scanned Zangoose and to his surprise Ash saw that his ability was the hidden ability Toxic Boost not the far more common Immunity. This made Ash wonder why he hadn't been poisoned since his ability wasn't Immunity and Seviper were known for their venomous bites. He looked to Raichu and Meowth who were sat next to him both in deep thought over what they had just heard.

"Hey Raichu, Meowth can Pokémon instinctively tell what their opponent's ability is?" Ash asked.

Raichu shook his head, he'd never been able to sense that but it did make him wonder if he would be able to do that now with his Psychic powers.

'No, I don't think so. I certainly can't, not right now.'

"Hey boss maybe since Zangoose and Seviper are bitter rivals and know this from birth they have some sort of natural understanding of each other." Meowth said.

"That's not a bad idea Meowth." Ash said impressed with Meowth's logic.

"Thanks. The alternative is dat the Seviper are so used to fighting Zangoose with Immunity they no longer use Poison attacks against them."

Ash was once again impressed at the theory and had to admit that both were possibilities and potentially something he could discuss with Professor Oak in the future. The trio continued their discussion, Eevee and Ralts tried to keep up with what was being said but were too young and eventually fell to sleep. Ash heard the soft snoring coming from his two young daughters and noticed how late it was and alongside the rest of his Pokemon they all went to sleep.

* * *

In the morning Zangoose was the first to wake up. He groaned as his body was aching from the day before, he stretched his limbs out hoping it would help and gasped at pain shot through his arm. He tried to ignore the pain and forced himself not to make a noise, when he believed nobody was watching Zangoose tried to make his escape. He pushed himself to his feet however he hadn't recovered yet and after a few steps he collapsed.

Ash heard a thud and woke up instinctively wrapping his arms around Ralts and Eevee. Ash looked to where the sound came from and saw Zangoose trying to push himself to his feet again. Ash released his hold on Eevee and Ralts and walked over to help Zangoose. However when he got close Zangoose swiped at Ash to keep him away. Ash took a Pokéball off his belt knowing this would be the easiest way for everyone to get through this without anyone getting hurt. When Zangoose saw it he quickly knocked the ball out of Ash's hand and glared at him.

"Look you've got two options either you get in the Pokéball and have an easy ride to the nearest Pokémon Centre or you can limp along it's your choice." Ash said angrily.

Zangoose wasn't convinced by the humans words, they were not trustworthy and he would not allow himself to be fooled by one of them. Ash let out an annoyed sigh as he looked at Zangoose who was clearly trying to be intimidating but in his injured state he was failing miserably.

"Listen Zangoose after you get seen by the nurse I'll immediately release you and you'll never hear from me again. If I double cross you then I will stand completely still and you can hit me with your strongest attack."

With that offer on the table Zangoose thought about his options for a moment. He knew that he was in no fit state to travel very far on his own, he'd either be picked off by another Pokemon or would just die from overexerting himself. It was obvious that it would be far easier for him to allow this human to carry him to whatever a Pokémon Centre is. The question was could he truly trust the boy.

Zangoos looked at the young human and wondered whether he could trust the boy, he had doubts over the words of a human however the boy had saved him from those Seviper and he could have captured him while he was unconscious. He let out a sigh and walked over to the Pokéball he had knocked out of the humans hand. Reluctantly he reached out and pushed the capture button on the device and didn't put up fight making sure that it was an instant capture. Ash went and picked up the Pokéball and then placed it on his belt. Ash then returned all of his Pokémon and started packing up camp.

"You know dat he probably won't thank you for helping him." Meowth said.

Ash sighed. "Yeah I know Meowth. But I had to help him. It was the right thing to do."

"I guess you're right." Meowth agreed.

* * *

When they'd packed up camp Ash got back on to the main path so they could continue their journey to Rustika Village. Ash was keeping a steady pace hoping to get there by tomorrow evening. As they walked along the path they caught sight of a man in the distance. Ash realised then that he was the only person they had seen on this path. Which when he thought about it was no surprise as most people would have gone straight through Petalburg Woods as it's a quicker route and you can catch some good Pokémon there.

As the man got closer Ralts suddenly went stiff in Ash's arms. He looked down at her and was surprised to see saw a terrified look on her face. Ralts took another glance at the man walking towards them and then buried her head in Ash's shirt as she started to cry. Ash looked from the man and then back to Ralts and quickly put two and two together knowing that this must be the sick bastard who had brutally abused Ralts. Ash let out an angry growl and could hear Meowth and Raichu let out a similar growl. Meanwhile Eevee was trying to comfort her sister but it wasn't working despite her best efforts. When Ash and the man were face to face the man glared at the sobbing Pokémon with a look of contempt.

"Why is your Ralts crying like a little baby?" the man asked in disdain.

Ash nearly snapped when he said that, he'd been angry a few times during his Pokemon journey but had never felt this level of rage. It was so intense that Ash was struggling to control it and he could tell that Raichu and Meowth were feeling the same. It was taking all of Ash's strength not to lash out at the man and the same was true for Raichu who's cheeks were crackling and Meowth who had his claws extended.

"Have you ever owned a Ralts?" Ash asked as calmly as he could.

"Yeah but she was a weakling. She was completely worthless. So me and my Pokémon beat her after she failed to do anything I asked and we left her for dead." he replied with a self satisfied smirk.

Ash was seething now, right now he wanted to throttle the scum bag in front of him for what he had done to the innocent Pokemon sobbing in his arms. But he somehow managed to keep calm and he simply he tightened his grip on Ralts who was now crying even harder than before. The traumatic events of that day were coming back to her full force. She could feel every attack hitting her, every biting insult directed at her and especially their evil laughter as she was mercilessly attacked by those she thought she could trust. Eevee watched her sister sadly and was there rubbing her back trying her best to calm Ralts but knew that it was having little to no effect.

"This is the Ralts you abandoned that day you scumbag." Ash snarled.

The man started laughing. "Ha she deserved what happened to he, she is a weakling and you look like one too."

Ash growled angrily. "Talk is cheap. Battle me then we'll see who is weak."

"Fine prepare to be humiliated by the great Echye." he boasted in response.

Echye pulled five poke balls off his belt and threw them revealing a Shiftry, a Skarmory, a Medicham, a Swellow and a Magcargo. Ash looked at Echye's Pokémon and wasn't worried at all. They were far weaker than even his newest addition so this would be a cake walk. Ash placed Eevee and Ralts on the ground Eevee was still trying to comfort Ralts but she just kept sobbing. He then took three poke balls off his belt and threw them

"Noctowl, Snorlax and Totodile to the battlefield."

The trio of Pokémon came out and instantly knew from the anger radiating from Ash, Meowth and Raichu and the state Ralts was in that they were battling her old trainer. They all glared at their opponents with pure hatred, no one messed with a member of their family.

"Noctowl you deal with Swellow. Snorlax you've got Shiftry. Raichu knock Skarmory out of the sky. Meowth crush Medicham and Totodile wipe out that Magcargo." Ash said.

It was a rare occurrence for Ash to not give his Pokemon any instructions but he knew that his Pokémon could deal with Echye's Pokémon without his help.

"Shiftry Leaf Storm. Swellow Aerial Ace. Skarmory Steel Wing. Medicham Hi Jump kick and Magcargo Flamethrower." Echye commanded.

Shiftry shot a horde of leaves at Snorlax who just ran straight through them. His fist became encased in ice and he punched Shiftry sending him crashing into a tree. The grass type then slumping to the ground. Swellow shot towards Noctowl who in return tucked her wings in and charged straight at Swellow. The attacks clashed and Swellow was easily beaten and plummeted to the ground crashing into Shiftry. Skarmory then flew at Raichu and his wing shimmered. Raichu stood still and fired a massive bolt of electricity at Skarmory stopping him instantly. Raichu's tail then took on a metallic sheen and he slammed it into Skarmory's head making him crash into the ground next to Swellow. Medicham leapt in the air aiming a kick at Meowth who rolled to his right and then raked his claws down Medicham's back. Medicham fell to her knees trying to deal with the pain. Meowth then formed an orb of water in his hands and shot it at Medicham. The orb slammed into her and she was sent flying back and rammed into the rest of her team mates adding to the pile of bodies. Magcargo shot a burst of flames at Totodile who was surrounded in water and shot off towards Magcargo easily pushing through the flames and crashing into Magcargo leaving all of Echye's Pokémon motionless on the ground.

"Okay it's time to finish this. Snorlax Hyper Beam. Raichu Thunder. Totodile Hydro Pump. Meowth Thunderbolt and Noctowl Psybeam."

Snorlax gathered energy in its mouth and formed an orange orb. He then fired an incredibly powerful orange beam from the orb. Raichu and Meowth charged an incredibly high amount of power and shot two bolts of electricity at Echye's Pokémon Totodile opened his mouth and fired a high pressure jet of water and Noctowl fired a beam of psychic energy. The attacks hit the motionless Pokémon knocking them out in one of the biggest displays of overkill ever. Echye stood there stunned that his Pokemon had been beaten by someone who would take in a weak Pokemon like Ralts.

"I can't believe I lost to a guy who takes in pathetic little Pokémon like that useless Ralts." Echye said in disbelief.

That was it, the straw that broke the Camerupts back and shattered the last of Ash's self control. He let out an enraged cry and charged at Echye. The stunned trainer had no chance to react and could only stand there as Ash punched him square in the nose. Echye staggered back holding his nose which now had blood pouring from it.

"You'll pay for that you son of a b..."Ash cut him off with an uppercut making Echye crash to the ground.

"That's my daughter you're talking about you abusive bastard. She is far stronger than you could ever be!" Ash yelled.

"You'll regret this, one day I'll get you back for this." Echye replied as he continued to hold his nose to stop the blood.

Echye then got up still holding his nose. He glared at Ash and then returned his Pokémon quickly running away.

"That's right you better fucking run away!" Ash yelled at the fleeing Echye.

Once Echye was out of sight Ash and his Pokémon all went to Ralts to show their support. Ash picked Ralts and Eevee up and pulled them into a tight hug. Ralts grabbed hold of him trying to find some comfort in her fathers embrace and continued crying into his shirt. Eevee continued to hug Ralts and Ash gently stroked her hair and made what he hoped were soothing noises. Ralts' sobs eventually turned into a small whimpers. She looked up at Ash with tears in her eyes.

"Ralts never believe a word he said. He was wrong. I meant what I said to him. You are far stronger than he could ever be." Ash said softly.

Ralts smiled at Ash and snuggled into his embrace holding onto him tightly as she sobbed. Ash kept stroking his daughters hair and then looked at his Pokémon. He nodded at them and they all knew what he wanted them to do. Raichu took Phanpy and Mudkip's Pokéballs off his belt and sent them out quickly explaining the situation to them. While everyone made camp Ash kept hugging Ralts until she finally cried herself to sleep. Everyone looked on sadly hoping that she could get past this some of them knowing just how hard it can be to get over a betrayal by someone they thought they could trust.

Ash then placed Ralts into his sleeping bag so she could rest. Eevee jumped out of Ash's arms and got in to the sleeping bag as well and held her sister close. Ash sat down and looked at them, it saddened him to see that Ralts was in such a terrible state because of her former trainer. Raichu walked up to Ash and sat down next to him. The mouse looked at his best friend who was watching Ralts worriedly.

'Do you think she is gonna be okay?' Raichu asked.

"I hope so Raichu. I really do. All we can do is give her all the love and support we can." Ash replied sadly.

Everyone nodded in agreement with Ash, silence then took over for the rest of the day.

* * *

The next day the journey was uncomfortably quiet. Ralts was not her usual happy self which was dampening everyone's spirits. What worried Ash was that she had barely said a thing since seeing her old trainer yesterday. Ash had hoped that seeing him beat Echye would have helped her but it seems she was still in a bad place. Ash glanced at her again and saw the same vacant look in her eyes. The look broke Ash's heart, he couldn't stand to see her like this anymore. He wanted to cheer her up and since they were still near the coast he decided to have another day on the beach. He placed his backpack down on the beach and took all the Pokéballs off his belt.

"Everyone come on out."

The Pokémon all appeared in front of Ash. Zangoose immediately hobbled over to a tree as far away from everyone as possible and sat in the shade trying his best to ignore them all. Everyone else did as they had done the other day and were all enjoying another leisurely day at the beach. Ash quickly changed into his swimming trunks and took Ralts and Eevee into the ocean again hoping it would cheer the young psychic type up.

Moments later everyone let out relieved sighs and had smiles on their faces as they heard Ralts giggling again. It was something so small and yet they all knew how significant it was in terms of Ralts dealing with what had happened in the past. As lunch time approached Mudkip and Totodile swam over to Ash allowing Eevee and Ralts to sit on their backs. Ash gave them a nod and they started racing making the young Pokémon giggle again. When Ralts and Eevee eventually got bored Mudkip and Totodile swam back to land so they could get their lunch.

"Thanks guys." Ash said appreciatively.

'No problem Ash.' they both replied.

Ash looked at Ralts and could tell that despite the fun she had had today she was still feeling down and was thinking about what had happened in the past. He knew he had to say something to her to stop her thinking such terrible thoughts. He picked her up and cradled her in his arms. She looked up at her dad and smiled feeling safe.

"Ralts forget about your past. We all care for you and we will never let anything happen to you." Ash said softly.

All the Pokémon cried out in agreement making sure she knew that she was part of their family and that they always looks out for family. Ash could see Ralts had tears in her eyes and was worried he'd said something wrong but then he saw the smile on her face and realised they were tears of joy not of sorrow. She grabbed on to Ash and he hugged her back. All the other Pokémon surrounded them and were happy to see the smile back on her face. Ralts looked at them and was truly happy as she knew what her dad and all the other Pokemon had said was true. Meanwhile Zangoose looked on at what was happening in shock. He was amazed at the bond they all seemed to share. He didn't know it but deep down he was starting to consider staying with the human.

* * *

On the outskirts of Nikita Town Echye was muttering curses at Ash and that pathetic Ralts. He touched his nose and winced in pain making him wonder how much damage that punch had done. He looked in a nearby window and saw that his nose which was now slightly misshapen had stopped bleeding but had left dry blood around his upper lip and had dribbled down his chin. He then noticed that there was also a lot of blood on his hand.

"I will get back at that bastard. I just need to figure out how." he muttered.

Suddenly a man stepped out of the shadows. He was wearing a hooded cloak which hid his face. The only thing visible was his eyes, both blazed with an intensity he had never seen before. The man was flanked by a Mightyena and a Camerupt both Pokémon had the same chilling look the man had. Echye shuddered under their gaze and took a step back in fear.

"Wh-who the hell are you?" Echye said hoping he sounded intimidating.

The man smirked. "Someone who can help you get back at him."

Echye's fear turned into interest. He looked at the strong looking Pokémon that stood either side of the man and then an evil smirk took over his face.

"Okay, I'm listening."

* * *

After a few more hours of playing in the sea they got back on the path. Ash was hoping to get to Rustika Village by tonight so he could get Zangoose checked out by the local Nurse Joy. They had been walking for a few hours when a few building came into sight on the horizon.

"Hey that must be Rustika Village. I'm sure that there is a Pokémon Centre there so we can get medical attention for Zangoose."

With a cheer the group ventured forth and a few minutes later Ash walked into Rustika Village. It was a very small village where the only thing worthy of note was the Pokémon Centre itself. With only one destination in mind Ash headed straight for the building so he could get Zangoose checked out. He walked inside and saw a rather bored looking Nurse Joy stood behind her desk. Upon hearing the doors open her head shot up and she looked excited that she'd actually have something to do for once.

"Hello how can I can help?" she asked cheerily.

Ash took Zangoose's Pokéball off his belt and sent out the mongoose who put some distance between himself and Ash.

"Well Nurse Joy I found this Zangoose in the wild and saved him from three Seviper. When I got a closer look I saw that he had some pretty bad wounds. I've done the best I can but I was hoping you'd help him."

"Of course I'll help. Come on then. Bring him into the back and I'll take a look at him."

Ash followed Nurse Joy into the recovery room with Zangoose reluctantly joining them. Now that Nurse Joy could take a closer look at Zangoose she was shocked at the condition he was in. But after quickly checking him over she had to admit that Ash had done a very good job for someone with little to know medical training.

"Well Ash I'm impressed with how well you treated Zangoose's wounds."

"All I did was wrap some bandages around his injuries." Ash said feeling slightly embarrassed. Nurse Joy could see his embarrassment and decided not say anymore about it.

"Okay before we start I just need to give Zangoose an injection so we can attend to his wounds."

As he saw the sharp object in the womans hand Zangoose tried to move away as he was not certain about whether it was wise to allow the human to stick a needle in him. He looked at Ash who just gave him a nod. Zangoose turned his attention back to Nurse Joy and after a sigh he nodded at her giving her permission to administer the injection. He figured that the sooner she did this the sooner he'd be out of here.

He winced slightly when the needle pierced his skin and he began to feel woozy moments later. When Zangoose finally fell unconscious Ash and Nurse Joy carried Zangoose to the X-Ray machine. They did all the scans and were relieved to find that it wasn't a broken arm but he had dislocated his shoulder. She got Ash to hold Zangoose down just in case he woke up and then she then did a series of turns, eventually with a loud crack that made everyone cringe his shoulder went back into place. She then put the arm into a fresh sling, while he didn't strictly need it anymore she didn't want to risk him accidentally damaging again over the next day or so.

They picked Zangoose up again and took him back to the recovery room so Nurse Joy could continue her examination. After checking Zangoose's other wounds and as Ash expected doing the stitches needed for the gash covering his face she left the room. She allowed Ash and his Pokémon to stay with Zangoose and eventually they all fell asleep in the room.

* * *

Next morning Zangoose woke up and sat up stretching his free arm. He looked around the room and saw the human and his Pokémon all sleeping in the room. Zangoose was surprised that they had stayed with him and fallen asleep in what appeared to be very uncomfortable positions considering he had not exactly been particularly grateful for what they had done for him. He wondered why the human had been so kind when he had shown the human no gratitude for saving his life. As he pondered this Nurse Joy opened the door to the recovery room, the sound woke up Ash and his Pokémon who after taking a few moments to properly wake up turned their gaze to the nurse.

"Good morning Nurse Joy. So can Zangoose leave today?" Ash asked.

"Well I'll do a check-up and if he has recovered sufficiently he can go." she replied.

With the potential of an early exit Zangoose sat there patiently and allowed Nurse Joy to do a thorough examination. He just hoped that a combination of his recovery and his good behaviour whilst here would convince her to let him leave today. After a few minutes she stepped back with a blank expression on her face and scribbled something on a sheet of paper.

"So can he leave?" Ash asked hopefully.

Nurse Joy smiled brightly breaking her facade. "I am happy with Zangoose's condition so yes he can leave today. Just promise me that he won't do much for the next few days."

"I promise that he'll take it easy. Thanks for everything Nurse Joy."

"It was my pleasure." she replied with a smile.

Knowing now that he would be allowed to leave Zangoose smirked and jumped off the bed. He then followed Ash out of the Pokémon Centre wondering what would happen now. Would the human keep his word? And if he didn't then how would he react? He didn't have long to ponder this as once they were outside Ash turned to face Zangoose and took his Pokéball off his belt.

"Okay Zangoose a promise is a promise and I don't break promises." Ash said.

Ash then placed the Pokéball Zangoose had been captured in on the ground and stamped on it shattering it into a thousand pieces.

"See ya Zangoose try not to get in too much trouble."

Ash gave Zangoose a small wave and then turned around, he started walking towards the northern exit of the village leaving Zangoose stood there in shock. The mongoose stared at the human who was now fading from view and then back to the shattered remnants of the capture device. Zangoose was amazed that the human had kept his word, he kept staring at the broken Pokéball and felt something strange. He thought he would feel relieved to be freed but he didn't. Disappointment was mostly what he felt but he wasn't sure why.

Was it the human? Maybe the human was worth sticking with. His Pokémon were clearly strong and he had never seen someone have such a strong bond with his Pokémon. He started following Ash ducking between cover trying to keep out of sight. He decided that the best course of action would be to scout him out a bit more before doing anything rash. Meowth caught a glimpse of Zangoose out the corner of his eye.

"You know dat Zangoose is following us?" he whispered into Ash's ear.

"Yeah I know." Ash replied.

"Are you gonna do something?" Meowth asked as he saw Zangoose duck behind a fence.

"No. I can tell he is pretty confused about how he feels. It's better that we leave him until he is ready."

"Whatever you say boss."

Ash left the village and continued on to Rustboro excited at the prospect of his first Hoenn gym battle. All the while Zangoose was not far behind them.

* * *

Notes

Please give a review telling me what you liked/didn't like.

If you have any questions I am more than happy to answer them.

Ash:

On Hand - Raichu (Alolan), Meowth, Mudkip, Totodile, Phanpy, Snorlax, Noctowl, Nincada, Eevee (Shiny) & Ralts

Kanto – Raichu, Meowth, Ivysaur, Wartortle, Charizard, Pidgeot, Kingler, Muk, Tauros(x29), Snorlax & Eevee (Shiny)

Johto – Totodile, Bayleaf, Cyndaquil, Heracross, Noctowl (Shiny), Phanpy & Sneasel

Hoenn – Mudkip, Nincada & Ralts


	9. A Day Full Of Surprises

Thanks for the reviews guys I really appreciate you taking the time to write one.

Here's chapter 9 I hope you enjoy.

In conversations:

'- Translation of Poké Speech – No human unless otherwise stated can understand it.

"- Human speech

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon.

* * *

About an hour after leaving Rustika Village Ash found a clearing that would be good for training. Due to a series of disruptions he hadn't done any since the tournament in Nikita Town which meant he had a bit of catching up to do. He took all the Pokéballs off his belt and threw in the air, the burst open immediately, revealing all of his Pokémon

"Okay everyone it's time to start training. Snorlax I want you to show Raichu how to use Hyper Beam. When he can use it keep working on Flamethrower. Phanpy I want you to try to improve your Earthquake so stamp on the ground as hard as you can. Don't worry about the rest of us we'll be fine. Meowth work on Hidden Power hopefully it will give you an extra elemental attack. Noctowl I want you to have a go at Zen Headbutt so charge the psychic energy you would for Psybeam but instead of firing the energy focus it into your head. Mudkip we'll start with Bite so focus on making your teeth as sharp as possible and Totodile you're with me."

Everyone cheered clearly eager to start training again and went off to their own areas of the clearing so they could start doing the training they had been told to do. The only one left with Ash was Totodile who followed Ash as he walked to an isolated area of the clearing.

"Alright Totodile I want to try something new today. I want to combine two of your attacks to make one much more powerful one. What do you think?"

Totodile nodded in response and danced happily.

"I'm glad that you agree. So what you do is first use Aqua Jet and then use Ice Punch to freeze it as you are descending. A bit like how Wartortle combined Aqua Jet and Skull Bash."

Totodile nodded and started trying to combine the two moves. Ash watched and at first it wasn't looking good. Totodile was managing to freeze it but due to a bit of bad timing he was freezing it to soon which meant he lost all momentum and just fell to the ground. But he refused to give up and he was gradually getting better. Ash was proud that he kept trying and knew that he would get it perfected. It would just take a while but if he got the results he hoped for then the time spent learning this would be time well spent.

"Don't overdo it. Take a rest when you feel tired."

Totodile stopped long enough to nod to show he had heard and then was off again. Ash went and sat down putting his two young Pokémon in his lap and he started grooming Ralts who sighed in content. It wasn't long before a whine came from the other Pokémon sat in his lap so he turned his attention to her who like Ralts sighed in content.

* * *

Ash hadn't been keeping track of time however his stomach grumbling told him it was lunch time. He took a quick look around and saw Raichu was managing to form an orange orb but couldn't sustain it long enough to fire a Hyper Beam from it. Snorlax was there still helping Raichu who looked a bit frustrated probably because he was struggling to just form the attack. Meowth was able to form six red orbs around him however the attacks didn't have much power behind them yet. Noctowl was doing well her knowledge of Calm Mind obviously making this a lot easier for her as she was easily channelling psychic energy into her head. Mudkip looked to have done what Ash had asked which didn't surprise him as it was a rather simple but useful move. Ash didn't need to look at Phanpy as he felt the ground shake and could tell that it had gotten stronger. He was proud of all the work they'd put in and at the dedication they showed. Ash whistled and all his Pokémon came to him.

"Okay everyone I'm incredibly proud of you. You've all worked really hard this morning."

Ash rummaged through his pack and got out their food placing it in bowls in front of them. All the Pokémon started scoffing their meals as Ash fed Ralts and Eevee. Everyone was so distracted eating that none of them noticed a dark shadow that was looming behind Ash however a certain mongoose hiding in a nearby bush did., He quickly shredded the sling that had been trapping his arm and got ready to attack.

Ash suddenly heard a rustle in the bushes behind him and turned to see a Seviper launch out of the bush glaring at him hatefully with its jaws wide open ready to strike. Ash was almost certain it was one of the ones that Raichu had shocked when they saved Zangoose a few days ago. Ash instinctively turned around shielding Ralts and Eevee from ny potential harm.

To Ash's surprise the attack he expected never came, he heard something cry out behind him and turned around just in time to see the Seviper crash into a tree on the other side of the clearing. He was certain that it must have been one of his own Pokémon that had saved him but they were all in front of him and he hadn't seen any of them be in a position to save him. Ash suddenly spotted a white figure in the corner of his eye, he turned his gaze to the figure and saw that it was Zangoose standing there glaring at the Seviper.

"Zangoose you saved me. Thank you." Ash said.

Zangoose smirked at Ash and gave a small nod to acknowledge him. He then shot off slamming right into the Seviper and started bombarding Seviper with a flurry of punches. The brutal assault took a lot out of Seviper and with a final slash from Zangoose the serpent was knocked out. Seeing this made Ash wonder how Zangoose had been in the state he was when Ash found him. The only thing he could think of was that there must have been several more Seviper attacking him before Ash got there.

A couple more Seviper burst out of the bushes hissing at Zangoose and preparing to attacking him to avenge their fallen brethren. But they stopped when all of Ash's Pokémon stood alongside him preparing to attack. The Seviper quickly picked up their fellow Pokémon and fled the scene. Zangoose smirked as he watched his hated nemesis flee but then quickly grabbed his arm and winced. The sudden movements had caused him a great deal of pain but he had saved the boy and that was what mattered. Ash walked over to Zangoose concerned for him but the mongoose ignored the pain in his arm and looked up at Ash.

"Thanks you again for saving me. So Zangoose do you wanna join us?"

Ash extened his arm leaving the choice up to Zangoose who stared at Ash for a moment and then reached out with his good arm and shook Ash's hand. Ash took a spare Pokéball out of his pocket and presented it to Zangoose who pressed the capture button and was instantly caught. Ash smiled and looked at the poke ball in his hand.

"Well he came around quicker than I expected."

* * *

Ash immediately let out Zangoose who allowed Ash to albeit reluctantly put his arm back into a sling. He had wanted to start training but he had to admit that his arm was still in quite a lot of pain due to the earlier exertions. After finishing their lunches everyone went back to training, the only exception being Mudkip who believed he had done as Ash had asked. With no clue what to do next Mudkip walked to Ash wondering what he had in store for him.

"I'm impressed that you've already done what I asked. So I'm guessing that you want something else to do now Mudkip."

Mudkip simply nodded in response and waited patiently for Ash's next instructions. Ash looked at the water type and started thinking through what Mudkip knew right now and what he could potentially learn to cover any weaknesses in his moveset. After a moments though Ash face-palmed as he realised he'd forgotten to teach Mudkip such a basic move.

"I'm an idiot. Mudkip you don't know Dig do you?"

Mudkip shook his head, he understood the concept of the move but had never tried to actually learn to use the move.

"Well I guess you can work on that today while I think about what you can learn next. I'll just see if there is someone who can help you."

Ash looked around the clearing to see if anyone was free to help them. His eyes then fell on Phanpy who looked like he was taking a break.

"Hey Phanpy can you come here please?" Ash yelled.

Phanpy slammed his feet on the ground one more time making the most powerful Earthquake he had ever done. After the shaking stopped Phanpy ran over to Ash.

"Phanpy that was a great Earthquake."

'Thanks dad.' Phanpy replied happily.

"I need your help Phanpy. Would you mind showing Mudkip how we trained to learn Dig?"

Phanpy nodded happy to be able to help and he led Mudkip to where he had been training. He started demonstrating what he had done when he had been learning Dig. Mudkip thought it looked rather easy so he started copying Phanpy's actions but found that it was not as easy as he had first thought and was getting tired pretty quickly. But he refused to stop even when Ash advised him to.

Ash let his Pokémon train for the rest of the afternoon and he had to admit that he was impressed with their progress even more so than usual. Raichu was getting better at sustaining the orb of energy but still couldn't quite fire it. Snorlax must have been happy with Raichu's development as he had walked away to an area away from the trees so he didn't set the forest on fire and started firing bursts of flames which were gradually increasing in intensity. Phanpy was still with Mudkip helping him with Dig, Ash still couldn't believe he had forgotten to teach Mudkip Dig beforehand. Ash then glanced at Totodile who was sat with Zangoose. He had taken a break from trying to do the combo move and started talking with Zangoose. It had clearly been appreciated by Zangoose as it had stopped him from focussing on the other's training which had been irritating Zangoose as due to his arm he was unable to do anything.

"Okay everyone that's enough training for today." Ash yelled.

Everyone stopped and walked over to Ash. They all slumped to the ground looking exhausted several of their stomachs then rumbled. Ash placed their food in front of them and they all started scoffing the food which Ash had gotten used to. Snorlax was the first to finish his food as usual. As soon as he swallowed the last piece he let out a loud belch. He then yawned and fell to sleep everyone making everyone laugh at his actions. After everyone calmed down they finished their meals and one by one they fell asleep.

* * *

The next morning Ash packed up camp and got back on the road to Rustboro. They walked down the path enjoying the warmth of the sun and the cool gentle breeze. Ash took out his Pokenav and checked the map function to see how close they were to Rustboro.

"Well guys we should be able to get to Rustboro today and then tomorrow we will get our first Gym Badge."

Everyone cheered and then suddenly several bullet like seeds hit the ground in front of the group. Ash put away the Pokenav and instinctively tightened his grip on Ralts and Eevee to keep them safe. Meowth jumped off Ash's shoulder and stood alongside Raichu as the pair started looking around trying to spot who fired the attack.

"Up there guys." Ash said as he looked at one of the trees.

Raichu and Meowth followed Ash's line of sight and spotted a small, green, bipedal reptilian Pokémon stood on a branch. It was glaring at them with it's yellow eyes which had long, narrow pupils. The reptiles hands and feet had three digits which were covered with tiny spikes. Its stomach and throat were red. It also had a line across its stomach resembling a pouch. The most promonant feature was its large dark green tail which had two separate lobes.

"Awesome it's a Treecko." Ash said excitedly.

'Human you are trespassing. Leave now.' Treecko said as he maintained his glare.

"Meowth what did he say?"

"He says dat we're trespassing."

"Whoa calm down Treecko we're not trespassing. We are just headed to Rustboro." Ash said.

'Turn back now.' Treecko growled.

"He wants us to turn back." Meowth said.

"I'm sorry but we can't turn back." Ash sighed. He had wanted to catch a Treecko but this one would not want to be captured. "We mean you no harm. We'll just walk past as quickly as possible."

Ash started walking but was stopped when Treecko leapt off of the branch and fired another barrage of bullet like seeds at him. However Raichu managed to react quickly enough to block the seeds with his tail. Ash now returned Treecko's glare.

"I tried to be civil and you respond by putting my daughters in danger. Meowth let's do this."

"Right boss."

Meowth extended his claws and stepped in front of Treecko who stood ready for battle. The glare on Treecko's face morphed into a smirk and then took a twig out of his pouch and placed it in his mouth. He then started running at Meowth as streaks of white came off of him.

"Dig then Iron Tail."

Meowth quickly burrowed underground dodging Treecko who stopped inches away from the hole Meowth had dug. Meowth then burst out of the ground behind Treecko and swung his now metallic tail at the reptile. Treecko reacted quickly and swung his tail which was glowing white. The tails clashed and neither Pokémon was able to gain an advantage. Treecko then opened his mouth and fired several bullet like seeds that knocked Meowth back.

"Quick use Water Pulse then Thunderbolt."

Meowth quickly recovered and formed an orb of water. He fired the water at Treecko who stood there and took the attack not at all concerned by the water. Meowth then fired a bolt of electricity at Treecko who let out a pained gasp and fell to one knee. He quickly pushed himself back up and smirked at Meowth and Ash. Treecko was enjoying this as it had been a long time since someone had given him a good fight.

"Meowth use..." a loud explosion cut Ash off.

Everyone looked in the direction the noise came from and saw thick black smoke billowing from the forest. Treecko's eyes widened and he quickly shot off towards the smoke.

"Come on we've gotta follow him someone could be in danger."

Ash ran after Treecko until he finally came to a clearing that had a massive tree in the middle of it (Imagine the one from the James Cameron Avatar movie). Usually Ash would have been amazed by the tree but right now he was staring at it sadly. The smoke they had seen was coming from the tree. The leaves had all been incinerated and there were massive holes in the tree where some kind of explosive have struck it. He watched as several Treecko leapt out of the tree to get to safety, many of them having minor injuries. Ash could see a young Treecko stuck in the tree. At the base of the tree a Treecko was being held back presumably stopping him from jumping back on to the tree to save the young Treecko. Ash quickly made a decision and placed Ralts and Eevee on the ground.

"Okay I'll be right back. Raichu take care of them."

'Okay but where are you going?' Raichu replied.

Raichu didn't get a response but could tell what Ash was going to do when he saw his trainer running towards the tree. Ash pushed past the Treecko and then to their surprise he started climbing the tree barely dodging several more shots that were fired at the tree. Ash finally got to the branch the young Treecko was on. He reached out for the Treecko who stepped back in fear.

"Hey don't worry I'm not gonna hurt you. I just want to take you to your family." Ash said softly.

The young Treecko could tell by the softness in Ash's voice that he could trust him. Treecko started slowly crawling towards Ash. Another bomb then crashed into the tree knocking the Treecko off the branch and he now screamed as he plummeted towards the ground. Ash immediately jumped off the tree and caught the Treecko. He wrapped his arms around the Treecko and shifted his body around so that Treecko would be safe. Ash braced himself for impact but was surprised when he landed on something soft. He opened his eyes and saw Snorlax lying beneath him. Ash then let out a sigh in relief.

"Snorlax I don't know how you move so fast but thank Arceus that you can." Ash said.

Snorlax chuckled and hugged Ash relieved to see his trainer unharmed, he then placed Ash on the ground. Eevee and Ralts ran to their dad and jumped into his arms. He could hear them whimpering and could see tears in their eyes.

"I'm sorry for scaring you." Ash said as he hugged them tightly.

Their whimpering quickly died down and they smiled at Ash. One of the Treecko was about to go to Ash to thank him for saving his child when suddenly all of the Treecko except for one were caught in several nets. The one who wasn't captured was the Treecko Ash had been battling earlier. Ash saw Treecko charge towards someone who was stood on the machine that was firing bombs at the tree. Treecko was blocked off by all six of the persons Pokémon and could only dodge their attacks as several more bombs were fired at his home. Ash ran towards the person intent on stopping this. When he got close he saw another bomb fired from of the machine which slammed into the tree sheering the top of it clean off.

"Raichu, Meowth use Iron Tail on the gun barrel."

Raichu and Meowth's tails turned metallic and they swung them at the gun barrel. Their tails slammed down on the barrel and broke it off stopping it from firing again. The man controlling the machine glared at Ash.

"Who the hell are you?" Ash yelled.

"Call me Moukoko. As you've probably guessed I'm a Pokémon Poacher and you little boy are getting in my way." the man replied.

"Why did you do this?"

"Silly child. Do you have any idea how rare wild Treecko are? I'll make a killing on these when I put them on the open market." Moukoko said.

"So you're capturing them and destroying their home for your own profit. Not if I have anything to say about it. Everyone to the battlefield." Ash yelled angrily.

Ash's Pokémon all appeared in a flash of light and all roared angrily when they saw all of the Treecko trapped in the nets. They all stood ready to battle the poachers Pokémon Ash was surprised when Treecko came and stood next to his Pokémon

"Zangoose go and free all of the Treecko."

Zangoose let out an annoyed grumble since he had wanted to battle the poachers Pokémon but did as Ash said and quickly ran to the trapped Treecko. He slashed through the nets freeing them. Zangoose and several of the Treecko ran back to Ash and surrounded Moukoko.

"You shouldn't interfere in adult affairs boy." Moukoko growled.

"Are you gonna stand there and talk or are you gonna battle?" Ash replied cockily.

Moukoko looked around and knew that he didn't stand a chance, there were just too many for him to fight off so he quickly started his escape plan. Ash saw him pull something off his belt and then raise what appeared to be a small grey ball.

"Well boy it's been a blast."

Moukoko threw the ball on the floor which exploded and released a thick smoke. Ash and the Pokémon all coughed as the smoke filled their lungs. Once the smoke cleared Ash could see Moukoko in the distance flying on a Hydreigon

"Get back here." Ash yelled.

Moukoko responded by cackling evilly, Ash glared at him until he was out of sight. He turned to look at the Treecko who were either looking at him gratefully or talking with his Pokémon

"Are all of you alright?" Ash asked.

The Treecko all nodded to Ash's relief.

"I'm sorry about your tree."

An older looking Treecko walked up to Ash.

'In time it shall heal as it has done in the past when fires have burned the forest.' the older Treecko said.

"He says dat the tree will be fine."

"Well that's good news."

Ash then felt someone tug on his trousers. He looked down and saw the Treecko that he'd battled.

"Hey Treecko what's up?"

'I apologise for my earlier actions. I wish to continue our battle and if you beat me I'll let you catch me.'

Ash looked at Meowth awaiting a translation.

"Treecko wants to battle you. If you win he'll join us." Meowth said.

"Okay sounds good to me. Meowth you wanna continue the battle from earlier?"

"You bet boss."

"Start off with Quick Attack."

Meowth shot off with streaks of white coming off him. Treecko copied Meowth and ran at the cat, the pair clashed and appeared even in strength.

"Slash."

Meowth's claws extended and he swiped them at Treecko. However his attack hit thin air as Treecko leapt over him and was now swinging his tail which was glowing white at Meowth.

"Roll then Iron Tail."

Meowth rolled to his left making Treecko's Pound slam into the ground. Meowth tail then turned metallic and he slammed it into Treecko side making him stagger back and hold his aching ribs.

"Don't give him a chance to recover. Use Fury Swipes."

Meowth's claws extended again and he ran at Treecko who was still trying to gather himself after the last attack. This gave Treecko no chance to prevent the attack subjecting him to a barrage of scratches from Meowth. Treecko knew he needed to get some distance so he opened his mouth and fired several bullet like seeds at Meowth at point blank range. The seeds slammed into Meowth's face forcing the cat to fall back. As he watched the battle Ash had to admit that he was impressed with Treecko's quick thinking.

"Thunderbolt."

A bolt of electricity shot off from Meowth straight at Treecko. Treecko wasn't sure if Meowth was going to try the same strategy they used before so he moved to dodge the attack but pain shot through him from his injured side. Treecko knew he had no chance of dodging now so his only choice was to try and stop the attack with one of his own. He opened his mouth and fired another wave of bullet like seeds at the bolt of electricity. However the Thunderbolt was too close meaning that when his attack clashed with the Thunderbolt the ensuing explosion caught him in the blast. Treecko was shrouded in smoke and when the smoke cleared it revealed Treecko who was struggling to stand. Ash saw this as his chance so he threw a Pokéball at Treecko and the reptile was sucked inside. The Pokéball quickly dinged confirming the capture. Ash picked up the Pokéball quickly sending out Treecko and Ash healed him up so he could say a final goodbye to his family and friends. Once Treecko was done saying farewell they walked away waving back at the Treecko until they were out of sight.

* * *

It wasn't long until rooftops were in view. The sight surprised Ash as he didn't think they were that close to Rustboro. They walked in from the western entrance of the city and took a look around. Ash saw the massive building to the north and knew that must be Devon Corp. He briefly considered going and checking out Devon Corp to see about those upgrades Professor Oak had said about. But he decided to do so after his Gym battle.

Ash started walking through Rustboro and came across the Trainer School. As he stared at the building he remembered his past experience with Trainer Schools and decided to see how this ones compared. He walked inside and saw that it was a rather small facility. He looked around the room and saw that there was about twenty children sat at desks. They appeared to be between six and nine presumably learning for when they start there journey's. Ash followed their line of sight and saw that they were watching what Ash thought was a video recording of Professor Oak. Ash jumped when Professor Oak looked straight at him. The children all looked back at Ash and he suddenly felt a bit uncomfortable.

"Hi Professor." Ash said.

"Hello Ash." he replied.

"Um Professor who's that?" one of the children asked while pointing at Ash.

"He is Ash Ketchum. He's been a trainer for a little over four years now."

"Is he strong." one of the other children asked.

"I believe so. In fact I believe he has the potential to win the Evergrande Conference."

"Professor your embarrassing me. Anyway Gary is collecting the Hoenn gym badges too. Shouldn't you be rooting for him?" Ash said.

"I am rooting for Gary and if the two of you battle I shall cheer for him. However out of the two of you I believe you are stronger."

"Really?" Ash replied in shock.

"Indeed. I believe that you are far more dedicated to your Pokémon and that you take training far more seriously than Gary does."

"Why do you think that?"

Professor Oak sighed. "After Gary returned from Johto I offered to teach him everything I knew. But he just brushed my help away claiming that he didn't need help. You on the other hand came and asked me for help."

Ash shook his head disappointed in his friend turned rival. He knew Gary was stubborn and big headed but to refuse help from one of the most famous Pokémon Professor's in the world was just stupid on his part.

"I'm glad you're here Ash. I had been intending to call you but now I don't need to. You see I have good news about Eevee. If you call me later I'll tell you about it."

Eevee perked up and yipped happily.

"Ok Professor. I'll call you later."

Professor Oak nodded and Ash turned around about to leave.

"Wait Ash." a man called.

Ash looked back and saw the teacher walking towards him.

"Listen Ash. Roxanne helps me run this Trainer School but she was busy today with challengers. So I have nobody to have a demonstration battle with to show the kids how a battle goes. So I was wondering if you could help us out if you have some time to kill?"

Ash looked at the young students and remembered when he was their age. It made him wonder how much different he would be if he had been in a Trainer School before going on his journey.

"Sure I'd love to help."

"Thanks for the help Ash. Oh my names Jason."

"No problem Jason."

Jason walked back down to the front of the class and Professor Oak got back to his lecture. Ash sat down at one of the spare desks at the back and listened to the lecture. As the lecture went on Ash had to admit that he was impressed with the knowledge the children had. Even the youngest of them were able to answer many questions that a few months ago he wouldn't have been able to.

* * *

A few minutes later Ash entered the Pokémon Centre and handed all of his Pokémon apart from Eevee and Ralts to Nurse Joy. Ash took a seat and watched as Nurse Joy took them to the healing room. Ash spent the time giving Eevee and Ralts a quick groom which both young Pokémon seemed to enjoy. A few minutes later Nurse Joy walked back out with his Pokéballs, Raichu and Meowth. Ash got up and walked over to the main desk.

"How are my Pokémon?"

"Well I am impressed your Pokémon are healthy as can be."

"Thanks Nurse Joy. Can I have a room for the night?"

Nurse Joy nodded and handed his Pokémon back. She then pulled a key out from under the desk and gave it to Ash. He went into the cafeteria and sent out his Pokémon so they could get something to eat. Ash enjoyed the meal mainly because it was nice for Ash to not worry about making their meal. The only exception was Snorlax who was sat outside with his specially made food as Ash didn't want Snorlax to eat all of the Pokémon Centre's food.

A couple of hours later Ash went back to his room in the pokemon Centre upstairs. He looked for his room and quickly found it. After opening the door he collapsed on to the bed. Ash looked at the time and was surprised to see that it was only ten pm. Since there was really nothing else to do Ash decided to turn in earlier than usual as he knew they would need to be fully focussed for his first Hoenn Gym battle tomorrow.

* * *

Notes

Please give a review telling me what you liked/didn't like.

If you have any questions I am more than happy to answer them.

So Ash has caught Zangoose and Treecko.

As Treecko's addition shows I will use parts from the animé but I will heavily edit them to fit the story.

Ash:

On Hand - Raichu (Alolan), Meowth, Mudkip, Totodile, Phanpy, Snorlax, Noctowl, Nincada, Treecko, Eevee (Shiny) & Ralts

Kanto – Raichu, Meowth, Ivysaur, Wartortle, Charizard, Pidgeot, Kingler, Muk, Tauros(x29), Snorlax & Eevee (Shiny)

Johto – Totodile, Bayleaf, Cyndaquil, Heracross, Noctowl (Shiny), Phanpy & Sneasel

Hoenn – Mudkip, Nincada, Treecko, Zangoose & Ralts


End file.
